Pandaemonium (2000)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Julien Temple

Writer:

Frank Cottrell Boyce (written by)

Release Date:

18 April 2001 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Friendship and betrayal between two poets during the French Revolution. |

Plot Keywords:

Creative Process | Opium | Celebrity | Visionary | Independent Film

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Linus Roache	...	Samuel Coleridge
John Hannah	...	William Wordsworth
Samantha Morton	...	Sara Coleridge
Emily Woof	...	Dorothy Wordsworth
Emma Fielding	...	Mary Wordsworth
Andy Serkis	...	John Thelwall
Samuel West	...	Robert Southey
Michael N. Harbour	...	Walsh (as Michael Harbour)
William Scott-Masson	...	Tom Poole
Clive Merrison	...	Dr. Gillman
Dexter Fletcher	...	Humphry Davy
Guy Lankester	...	Lord Byron
Andrea Lowe	...	Edith Southey
Jacqueline Defferary	...	Miss Holland
Andy de la Tour	...	Andrew Crosse

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for drug content.

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:LH | France:U | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Australia:M | Canada:PG

Filming Locations:

Charlestown, Cornwall, England, UK

Company:

Arts Council of England

Goofs:

Anachronisms: As they are rolling around from the effects of "Thornapple", the shot of the clouds rolling by show the quick streak of the exhaust of a jet airplane zipping from bottom to top of the picture.

Quotes:

Samuel Taylor Coleridge: It's not the opium - it's my mind. I spend every day trying not to think.

A visual and emotional splendid evocation of the lives of two English poets

At last, a film that depicts the lives and creative angst of poets that rings true, not just in its literal evocation but in the poetic handling of their inner worlds concurrent with their outer ones...their relationships, their involvement in the politics of their time. Above all, the passion that can possess a creative mind to the point of near self-destruction. Coleridge, the main protagonist in this film, is depicted (and well portrayed by Linus Roache) in all his struggles to reach the deepest source in himself, leading sadly to his addiction to laudanum. We're given graphic images of his creative process, the imagination (of both the poet and film-maker, much credit to Julien Temple) made visual (with some interesting references to our contemporary world). We see Wordsworth pretty much through the eyes of Coleridge and his relationship with him and his sister. Dorothy (beautifully played by Emily Woof). A Wordsworth fan might easily be critical of such a view, but this after all is Coleridge's day in the sun (or shade). Even if you're not a poetry enthusiast (which, alas, counts too many, especially in American culture) this film can bring you entertainment and much more...the suggestion that within us all lies a source of beauty that can allow us to appreciate it in its verbal form. See it! It's in my view one of the finest films in many a moon.