The Angelic Conversation is a lyrical, haunting film about a young man’s search for love in a dreamlike landscape. Its tone is set by the juxtaposition of slow moving homo-erotic images and opaque landscapes through which two men take a journey into their own desires. Offscreen, Dame Judi Dench recites a sequence of Shakespeare's sonnets that counterpoint the action. Jarman called it, “My most austere work, but also the closest to my heart.”
Derek Jarman
James Mackay
Derek Jarman
Stephen Thrower
Judi Dench
(voice)
Paul Reynolds
Philip Williamson
Dave Baby
Timothy Burke
Simon Costin
Christopher Hobbs
Philip MacDonald
Toby Mott
Steve Randall
Robert Sharp
Tony Wood
CinemaSerf
Paul Reynolds and Philip Williamson reminded me of silent film actors in this really quite poignant tale of homosexual longing, lust and pure love all complemented by a Shakesperian narrative consisting of fourteen of his sonnets read, emotively and vibrantly, by Judi Dench. The imagery is often qui...
The Angelic Conversation
Clip • YouTube
BFI
Channel 4 Television