The Angelic Conversation (film)

The Angelic Conversation
DVD cover
Directed byDerek Jarman
Screenplay byDerek Jarman
Based onShakespeare's sonnets
by William Shakespeare
Produced byJames Mackay
StarringPaul Reynolds
Phillip Williamson
Narrated byJudi Dench
CinematographyDerek Jarman and James Mackay
Edited byPeter Cartwright
Derek Jarman
Cerith Wyn Evans
Music byCoil (with additional music by Benjamin Britten)
Release date
  • 28 February 1985 (1985-02-28)
Running time
78 min.
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Angelic Conversation is a 1985 arthouse drama film directed by Derek Jarman. Its tone is set by the juxtaposition of slow-moving photographic images and Shakespeare's sonnets read by Judi Dench. The film consists primarily of homoerotic images and opaque landscapes through which two men take a journey into their desires. The film is shot on Super-8, then transferred into 35mm film.

Jarman himself described the film as "a dream world, a world of magic and ritual, yet there are images there of the burning cars and radar systems, which remind you there is a price to be paid in order to gain this dream in the face of a world of violence."[1]

The soundtrack to the film was composed and performed by Coil, and it was released as an album of the same name. In 2008, Peter Christopherson of Coil (with David Tibet, Othon Mataragas and Ernesto Tomasini) performed a new live soundtrack to the movie during a special screening at the Turin Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.

The film's music track also includes Benjamin Britten's "Sea Interludes" from Peter Grimes, performed by The Chorus and Orchestra of The Royal Opera House Covent Garden, conducted by Colin Davis.

  1. ^ Jarman, Derek (1997). Kicking the pricks. ISBN 978-0-87951-844-8