The Garden

Directed by Derek Jarman
Year: 1990
Country: U.K.
Language: English

Half waking dream and half fiery polemic, THE GARDEN was born of director Derek Jarman’s rage over continued anti-gay discrimination and the sluggardly response to the AIDS crisis—he had been diagnosed HIV-positive in 1988. Starring Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton), this uniquely kaleidoscopic film shows the filmmaker’s genius at its most coruscating, making space in its breadth of vision for an over-the-top Hollywood-style musical number, nightmare images of tar-and-feather queer persecution, and footage of the particularly menacing-looking nuclear power plant that overlooks Jarman’s own garden, the point from which his film begins, and a cherished spot which he must keep tending to even as his body begins to betray him.

Cast
Tilda Swinton

Crew
Directed by Derek Jarman