Edward II
List Price:
Our Price: $5.06
You Save: $4.92 (49%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $4.43 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Andrew Tieman, Annie Lennox, John Lynch, Steven Waddington, Tilda SwintonBrand: Image Entertainment
Cinematographer: Ian Wilson
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Special Edition, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
Published: 2005-06-01
DVD Release Date: 2005-06-14
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Image Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Edward II
Movie Review: Christopher Marlowe's tragedy given new and innovative voice
Summary: 5 Stars
As playwright Christopher Marlowe is considered to be the first Elizabethan Tragedian, and therefore pioneer to the up and coming Shakespeare (see Shakespeare in Love for an excellent film treatment of this subject), the late Derek Jarman, Fellow of the British Film Institute for his lifelong contribution to British Cinema, can be viewed as a "pioneer" for filmmakers who dared to be unusual, visionary and quite controversial and unconventional in style and interpretation. Jarman's body of work is impressive, and breathes with the life of someone who simply must do it film his own way. For me, Jarman has become an acquired taste over the years, but a taste that lingers on the palate and goes down with absolute clarity of digestion. It was not always so!
In 1991, Jarman, and his dear friend, now Academy Award winning actress Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton (Widescreen Edition)) along with many film associates from the BFI (Sally Potter, Terence Davies, Bill Douglas and Peter Greenaway) were revolutionary visionaries in creating art on the screen that has had an impact on many present day filmmakers who wish to be craftsmen and not tradesmen. In that year, Jarman adapted the famous late 1500's Marlowe tragedy on the life, infatuations,and fatal weaknesses and incompetence of the 1300's King Edward 2 of England, and their devastating consequences to his life and country. Marlowe, himself, a complete rebel in his day, who died a violent and bitterly early death in a tavern brawl in 1594, seemed the perfect writer for the similar Jarman to interpret on the large screen....and WHAT AN INTERPRETATION IT IS! Adapting Marlowe's play, which was itself handled with considerable liberty by subordinating historical accuracy to dramatic effect, is vivid and unforgettably stylish and downright in-your-face sexual, as WAS in fact King Edward 2, known for his love for entertainment and squander, and his chronicled loves with at least two men, Piers Gaveston and Hugh Despencer whom he bestowed lavish attention, wealth and titles to such ignobly born fellows, thus igniting the fury of the Catholic Church, the Court Nobility, and his Queen, Isabella. The play is Marlowe's words, but the rendering is all Jarman, as Jarman, who was Gay himself, never shies from presenting Edward (Steven Waddington) as the tortured King, in a most disagreeable alliance/marriage (as was the custom!) with Isabella (Swinton) and his lust, love and adoration for his lover, Gaveston (Andrew Tiernan) and later Despencer (John Lynch). Isabella also has HER lover, Mortimer (Nigel Terry), who along with Isabella seeks to rule the realm through Edward and Isabella's son the young puppet, Edward 3.
Now that is the story, and those are the historical events.....BUT this is a Derek Jarman film, and history is shown to us in a way that is so provocative, from blatant sexual imagery, unconventional costuming that places the play as a commentary on Margaret Thatcher's Conservative late 1980's England, and minimalist scenery, designed by Christopher Hobbs (a great favorite of The British Film Institute) to evoke the barrenness of an Age where Church and Nobility ruled, and where pleasure and desire, though enjoyed to the hilt by all, is attacked and condemned in the form of homosexuality, and used as the excuse for deposing a recklessly viewed Monarch.
Often, I am entranced with historical Period Pieces, but often find that the retelling of said events can be rather dry and unmemorable. Not so with Jarman's film whose sense of injustice at how his own sexuality is eschewed is mesmerizingly transferred to the big screen with imagery that explodes graphically before your eyes. In fact, the imagery was so graphic and innovative that the film lingered in my emotions and not simply in my intellect! Not one ounce of Marlowe's play of lust and betrayal is lost, and IMO, Marlowe's rebel spirit which infuses his work, is best served by Jarman's understanding of Marlowe's intent on explaining the life of the tortured King and Marlowe's intense hatred for the nobility.
This is, too say the least, a film that will be lost on some, and perhaps even disdained. I have come to savour every morsel of this film as a genuine and first-rate work of art, as I have with other of Jarman's well known Derek Jarman 4-DVD Boxset (Blue , Caravaggio , The Angelic Conversation , Edward II) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Italy ] as well as The Last of England, Wittgenstein [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Spain ] and The Garden [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Great Britain ].
For anyone who craves something new from their movies, try Derek Jarman and other filmmakers such as Terence Davies (The Neon Bible) who, as Knighted Fellows of The British Cinema, sought and still seek to revolutionize and breathe new life and ideas into cinema today!
Summary of Edward II
EDWARD II (SPECIAL EDITION) - DVD MovieSimilar DVD Movies
Revengers TragedyMusic Video Dist; Release date: 2004-07-20; DVD
Best price: $7.75
Price in other shops:
Maurice - The Merchant Ivory CollectionImage Entertainment; Release date: 2004-02-24; DVD
Best price: $21.72
Price in other shops:
Plan BWolfe; Release date: 2010-10-26; DVD
Best price: $11.81
Price in other shops:
Great Performances: MacbethPBS; Release date: 2011-01-11; DVD
Best price: $9.90
Price in other shops:
Caravaggio (Special Edition)Release date: 2008-06-24; DVD
Best price: $14.39
Price in other shops:
Christopher and His KindRelease date: 2011-06-28; DVD
Best price: $15.49
Price in other shops:
Glitterbox: Derek Jarman (Caravaggio / Wittgenstein / The Angelic Conversation / Blue / Glitterbug)Release date: 2008-06-24; DVD
Best price: $24.99
Price in other shops:
OrlandoSony; Release date: 2010-08-17; DVD
Best price: $12.68
Price in other shops:
War RequiemRelease date: 2008-09-02; DVD
Best price: $15.31
Price in other shops:
Edward IIWarner Brothers; Release date: 2009-05-26; DVD
Best price: $6.49
Price in other shops: