Jarman embarked on the project not long after his positive diagnosis for HIV in 1986, which doubtless fueled the bleakness that comes across onscreen. The opening of the narrative, such as it is, intercuts footage of Jarman laboring in his studio with that of a young man (Rupert Audley) in a blasted garbage yard stomping, and then simulating sex with, a Carravagio painting. All the while, narrator Nigel Terry intones a verse of protest that variously invokes T.S. Eliot and Allen Ginsburg. Actual Super 8MM home movies from Jarman's childhood are milked for irony, and tenement residents are shown being frog-marched by fascistic ski-masked soldiers, one of whom makes time for an erotic embrace with a naked man on top of a Union Jack. The final arc follows a posh upper-class wedding, but the seemingly content bride (Tilda Swinton) is thereafter depicted alone on a beach, desperately trying to rend her gown.
While many more bizarre visuals fills the interstices, it's kind of pointless to go into any further with cold description regarding what unfolds onscreen in The Last Of England. Depending on how much the viewer is steeped in Britain's social, political and sexual culture during the time of Jarman's artistic heyday, you'll either find much to mine from the filmmaker's imagery, or be subject to one raging headache.
The film is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio, with a Dolby Stereo soundtrack. Given the director's deliberate effort at keeping the film's look unpolished--Jarman shot all his new footage on Super 8, transferred everything to video for editing, and then to 35MM for theatrical presentation--there's not a lot of footing to critique the mastering job performed for DVD release. While the mere fact of The Last Of England's arrival on DVD will please Jarman fans of long standing, that same crowd will doubtless be disappointed by the complete dearth of supplemental materials in Image's offering. If ever a DVD release cried out for some measure of on-board critical exploration, it's this one, and there isn't so much as a liner note.
For more information about The Last Of England, visit Image Entertainment. To order The Last of England, go to TCM Shopping.
by Jay S. Steinberg
