Jubilee (1977)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Derek Jarman

Writer:

Derek Jarman (writer)

Release Date:

September 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Music

Tagline:

Sex, drugs and punk rock. Add violence and time travel and you have Jubilee.

Plot:

Queen Elizabeth I travels to late twentieth-century Britain to discover a tawdry and depressing landscape...

Plot Keywords:

1600s | Nude Man Murdered | Suffocation | Female Frontal Nudity | Dying During Sex

Cast

Jenny Runacre	...	Queen Elizabeth I / Bod
Nell Campbell	...	Crabs (as Little Nell)
Toyah Willcox	...	Mad
Jordan	...	Amyl Nitrite
Hermine Demoriane	...	Chaos
Ian Charleson	...	Angel
Karl Johnson	...	Sphinx
Linda Spurrier	...	Viv
Neil Kennedy	...	Max
Jack Birkett	...	Borgia Ginz (as Orlando)
Wayne County	...	Lounge Lizard
Richard O'Brien	...	John Dee
David Brandon	...	Ariel (as David Haughton)
Helen Wellington-Lloyd	...	Lady in Waiting
Adam Ant	...	Kid

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:MA | Hong Kong:III | New Zealand:R18 | UK:18

Filming Locations:

Bermondsey, London, England, UK

Company:

Megalovision

Trivia:

In her opening speech, Amyl Nitrate tells us that her favourite song is "Don't Dream It, Be It". That song was written for The Rocky Horror Show (filmed as The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)) by co-star Richard O'Brien, who plays court magician John Dee.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: After the policemen shoot Angel and Sphinx dead, Sphinx's eyes blink before the camera cuts away.

Quotes:

[Crabs and Happy Days on the bed, Mad distracts him]
Crabs: Back to work, no tea breaks.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Jubilee: A Life Less Golden (2003) (V)

Soundtrack:

Plastic Surgery

mixed responses

Jubilee, being a Derek Jarman film, obviously sets out to shock. An assorted set of punks and deviants live together in a garish open plan hell festooned with pictures of Hitler. Mad, an orange haired punkette (Toyah Wilcox, these days much more toned down and almost normal) and Amyl Nitrate (played by the unusual Jordan), a very weird lady who dreams of being a ballerina and talks about Myra Hindley, fight with each other. The regal Bod (Jenny Runacre, very good in this in both roles) doubles as Queen Elizabeth, wandering with her soothsayer John Dee (Richard O'Brien) and emotionless angel Arial, through a Britain tottering on the brink of revolution as the Silver Jubilee hits. Other dotty characters include Viv, an artist, and Angel and Sphinx (Linda Spurrier, Ian Charleson and Karl Johnson, who all went more mainstream than this later in their careers), who seem to do very little. Little Nell plays little whore Crabs, and Adam Ant plays slow-witted Kid, who is adopted by the freaks into their little gang. Cue a lot of raucous music, satirical comment on the media and the establishment, and a fair amount of unpleasant murder. And some plastic petunias. It does have its moments, but as a whole it is a bit of a mess. For visual style and flair it scores highly, but on everything else maybe the jury is still out.