Jubilee (1978)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Derek Jarman

Writer:

Derek Jarman (writer)

Release Date:

September 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Music

Tagline:

Sex, drugs and punk rock. Add violence and time travel and you have Jubilee.

Plot:

Queen Elizabeth I travels to late twentieth-century Britain to discover a tawdry and depressing landscape...

Plot Keywords:

Punk | Nude Man Murdered | Sex | Violence | 1600s

Cast

Jenny Runacre	...	Queen Elizabeth I / Bod
Nell Campbell	...	Crabs (as Little Nell)
Toyah Willcox	...	Mad
Jordan	...	Amyl Nitrite
Hermine Demoriane	...	Chaos
Ian Charleson	...	Angel
Karl Johnson	...	Sphinx
Linda Spurrier	...	Viv
Neil Kennedy	...	Max
Jack Birkett	...	Borgia Ginz (as Orlando)
Wayne County	...	Lounge Lizard
Richard O'Brien	...	John Dee
David Brandon	...	Ariel (as David Haughton)
Helen Wellington-Lloyd	...	Lady in Waiting
Adam Ant	...	Kid
Claire Davenport	...	First Customs Lady
Donald Dunham	...	Policeman
Iris Fry	...	Bingo lady
Quinn Hawkins	...	Boy
Barney James	...	Policeman
Lindsay Kemp	...	Cabaret performer
Ulla Larson-Styles	...	Waitress
Howard Malin	...	Schmeitzer
Luciana Martínez	...	Escort to Borgia
William Merrow	...	Maurice
Gene October	...	Happy Days
Prudence Walters	...	Escort to Borgia
Joyce Windsor	...	Bingo Lady
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Steven Severin	...	Himself (as Siouxsie and the Banshees)
Duggie Fields	...	Party-goer (uncredited)
Siouxsie Sioux	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Derek Jarman

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Derek Jarman		writer

Produced by
Howard Malin	....	co-producer
James Whaley	....	co-producer

Original Music by
Brian Eno

Cinematography by
Peter Middleton

Film Editing by
Nick Barnard

Production Design by
Mordecai Schreiber

Costume Design by
Dave Henderson
Christopher Hobbs

Makeup Department
Keith of 'Smile'	....	hair stylist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Guy Ford	....	assistant director

Art Department
Kenny Morriss	....	assistant production designer

Sound Department
Mike Billing	....	dubbing mixer
John Hayes	....	sound recordist
Trevor Rutherford	....	assistant sound recordist

Special Effects by
Martin Gutteridge	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Denis Balkin	....	grip
Bob McShane	....	assistant camera
Mike Munro	....	electrician
Jean-Marc Prouveur	....	still photographer
John Rogers	....	gaffer
Johnny Rosza	....	still photographer

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Richard Croft	....	costume maker
Ralph Dyer	....	costume maker
Luciana Martínez	....	wardrobe mistress

Editorial Department
Annette D'Alton	....	assistant editor
Tom Priestley	....	supervising editor

Transportation Department
John Albery	....	transportation

Other crew
Lee Drysdale	....	production assistant
Judi Futrille	....	continuity
Lindsay Kemp	....	cabaret performance
Luciana Martínez	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• Megalovision
• Whaley-Malin Productions

Distributors

• Cinegate Ltd. (1979) (USA) (theatrical)
• Criterion Collection, The (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Mystic Fire Video (1990) (USA) (VHS)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:R | Hong Kong:III | New Zealand:R18 | UK:18

Filming Locations:

Bermondsey, London, England, UK

Company:

Megalovision

Trivia:

Adam Ant receives an "introducing" credit

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: After the policemen shoot Angel and Sphinx dead, Sphinx's eyes blink before the camera cuts away.

Quotes:

Crabs: Leave the guy alone, he's better than a vibrator and he's bigger.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Jubilee: A Time Less Golden (2003) (V)

Soundtrack:

Slow Water

See it on the new Criterion disc

Difficult to describe, but amazing as hell. Derek Jarman examines the punk aesthetic, with a framing device that Queen Elizabeth I has asked her court magician to show her England's future. And I doubt she likes what she sees, a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The prophecy follows a group of punks who rebel and murder pretty much randomly. The film's likely to disgust many; it lives in much the same world as Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, and, just like that film, we are expected both to revile and have fun with the horrors that are perpetrated on screen. Criticism has been all over on this film, but it's mostly been negative, with a few cultists embracing it. This is the kind of film that I can really love, as I am a kind of pseudo-revolutionary myself. I enjoy observing rebellion in all of its forms, anyway, and I like to think I would like to somehow take part in it. Yes, that could be considered pretentious, but that especially fits in with this film. Jarman was never of like mind with the movement he was depicting, and he himself is emulating what he perceives as punk. And he's partly horrified at what he's observing. I loved watching this movie, in all its simultaneous beauty and ugliness. The documentary included on the Criterion disc, Jubilee: A Time Less Golden, convinced me that the film wasn't only impressive on a primal level. It's one of the best of this kind of documentaries, in that it doesn't at all slavishly tell us how great Jarman or Jubilee is. Instead, it clearly outlines all the contradictions of the artist and the film. Strangely enough, it helps solidify the importance and greatness of the film, while pretty much quashing the many criticisms that have been leveled at it throughout the years. The review of the film at DVD Verdict (www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/jubilee.shtml) was also a big help. Jubilee is definitely a must-see, an outrageous and remarkable cinematic experience. 9/10.