You are here:

The Angelic Conversation

Name: The Angelic Conversation
Director: Derek Jarman
Released: 1987
Duration: 78 min

Representation Score

6.1/10

Good

1987

Not Rated

Director

Derek Jarman

Runtime

78 minutes

Average Rating

No ratings yet

New Showbiz Analysis

Derek Jarman’s work is a landmark of queer cinema that rejects traditional storytelling in favor of lived experiences. By removing conventional plot elements, the film creates a space where identity is central to the atmosphere rather than just a plot point. The film stands out by challenging the traditional heterosexual perspective, replacing it with a fragmented exploration of desire. Its strength lies in its innovative approach to queer embodiment and its ability to question straight-centered structures. However, the film's experimental nature limits its broad appeal. The focus on a dreamlike, universalized psyche means it lacks the specific racial and ethnic representation found in more contemporary social dramas.

Watch this, not that →

Category Breakdown

Does The Angelic Conversation have LGBTQ+ representation?

Excellent

The film explores queer desire through intimate moments between characters. It focuses on non-straight relationships, allowing queer identities to take center stage without needing a traditional storyline.

How does The Angelic Conversation portray gender?

Excellent

The movie challenges traditional gender roles by emphasizing fluid expressions of gender through sensory experiences. It breaks down the usual distinctions between masculine and feminine roles.

How racially and ethnically diverse is The Angelic Conversation?

Fair

The film's impressionistic style does not follow a traditional cast or setting. While it avoids racial stereotypes, it does not highlight specific cultural or ethnic stories.

How does The Angelic Conversation represent religion and culture?

Good

Using Shakespearean sonnets and religious imagery in a fragmented way, the film avoids strict moral teachings. It embraces postmodern ideas and fleeting truths instead of fixed Western traditions.

Does The Angelic Conversation include disability representation?

Minimal

The film does not focus on characters with disabilities. However, it touches on themes of bodily experience through its portrayal of vulnerability.

Present on Screen

Centers queer desire and non-straight relationships through intimate moments.
Challenges traditional gender roles by emphasizing fluid, sensory expressions of gender.
Uses a radical, postmodern, and non-linear structure to subvert traditional storytelling norms.

Limited or Absent

Lacks specific cultural and ethnic narratives.
Does not explicitly feature characters with disabilities.

Official Synopsis

The Angelic Conversation is a lyrical, haunting film about a young man’s search for love in a dreamlike landscape. Its tone is set by the juxtaposition of slow moving homo-erotic images and opaque landscapes through which two men take a journey into their own desires. Offscreen, Dame Judi Dench recites a sequence of Shakespeare's sonnets that counterpoint the action. Jarman called it, “My most austere work, but also the closest to my heart.”

How are these scores produced? →