This Film Changed English History (Forever?) | Jarman & Christopher Marlowe

Theo Rollason joins Milo and Jack to discuss Queer Edward II, their new film built from thirty hours of unseen footage shot during the making of Derek Jarman’s Edward II, and to trace Jarman’s film back through Christopher Marlowe to the medieval king himself. Along the way: Jarman turns Renaissance history into Thatcher-era queer politics, Marlowe makes class more scandalous than homosexuality, Tilda Swinton transforms Isabella into a vampiric villain, Edward’s murder becomes entangled with AIDS and Jarman’s own mortality, Peter Greenaway attracts some professional jealousy, and a lost archive reveals the funny, chaotic, intimate reality of making one of British queer cinema’s defining films.

00:00 – Introduction

05:36 – Theo Rollason enters

11:52 – What Makes a Derek Jarman Film?

22:01 – How Jarman Reimagined Edward II

29:23 – Gay Love and Gay History

37:05 – Tilda Swinton: Queen of Thatcher

45:36 – Marlowe and Jarman: Kindred Artists

50:48 – Death & the AIDS Crisis

58:38 – 30 Hours of Lost Edward II Footage

1:03:50 – Derek Jarman vs Peter Greenaway

1:09:45 – What was Jarman like on set?

1:16:30 – Clip from Queer Edward II