Edward II

Hedonistic King Edward II causes a palace revolt by taking the ambitious Piers Gaveston as his lover – the latter uses his bedroom privileges to exert political influence. Edward almost lands his country in a civil war. In his adaptation of Christopher Marlowe’s Elizabethan drama, Derek Jarman emphasises the consequences of a love society could not accept. Jarman puts the film’s homosexual themes front and centre using incisive anachronisms and a mix of contemporary and Medieval props and costumes. Openly queer, supremely radical.

Key film

Jarman’s plot has an exciting (post)modern setting – at some point Edward’s army is depicted as the gay rights activists OutRage! Edward II is often seen as a key film in the New Queer Cinema early 1990’s cycle, alongside My Own Private Idaho, Young Soul Rebels and Poison. Featuring impressive acting by Jarman’s mainstay Tilda Swinton as Edward’s rejected Queen Isabella and a rare cinema appearance by vocalist Annie Lennox who breaks everyone’s heart with her rendition of Cole Porter’s song ‘Every Time We Say Goodbye, I Cry A Little’.

Derek Jarman, who died of AIDS, was already gravely ill when he shot this film and identified with Edward. His film was also anti-Thatcher as it was her regime that drastically limited the gay scene’s freedom.