British film-maker with a vivid pictorial sense, but little enthusiasm
for narrative. Jarman's own homosexuality is central to his work, which,
as well as anachronisms in period pieces, is full of full-frontal naked
men, whose presence may or may not be superfluous to the main action.
The male form, in fact, has dominated Jarman's cinema and probably prevented
it reaching a wider public. As a one-of-a-kind film-maker, however,
he has earned his niche in history. Sex and sidelong glances are major
players in Jarman's films; but there are few smiles in his aggrieved
and aggressive work, which emphasises style and content to the exclusion
of entertainment.
The most interesting and accessible of his films are those from the
late 1980s, especially Caravaggio (1986), his first to encourage acting
roles and narrative, The Last of England (1988), a lament for a country
ravaged by some nameless disaster (AIDS?) and War Requiem (1989), a
surrealistic, dialogue-free vision of World War II, using poetry and
music to express emotions. A talented painter and costume designer,
he died from AIDS.
