Book Review: "Derek Jarman" by Tony Peake

I've read pretty much everything by the legendary late Derek Jarman. As one of my favourite human beings of all time, Jarman had a larger-than-life personality almost naturally. Likeable, intelligent, brilliant, he made some of the most gorgeous films in 20th century British film history. This is including but not limited to the aesthetically phenomenal Caravaggio (1986) which launched the career of Tilda Swinton. In his books, Jarman is often cadid and proves himself a philosopher and a friend to all. I get so upset about the fact that he passed away just before I was born because I really would have loved to have him here still. Tony Peake's biography hits the damn nail on the head about Derek Jarman in so many different ways.

Tony Peake starts by going through the background of Derek Jarman's family, looking into the history of how eventually, his mother and his father got togather and tiny Derek came along. From a very early age, it is seen that Derek was dislocated by frequent moves - his father being an army man. Young Derek therefore developed some quite niche interests such as plants and flowers, which would obviously extend later in his life to tending to a beautiful garden. I love the way in which Peake gives us this unfiltered look at his early life - the fact that Derek Jarman was not very good with food when he was little was something he carried to later on in his life, for example, in seeing food as utilitarian instead of something to be enjoyed.

We get a look into Derek Jarman's schooling as he attended Canford School in Dorset. He didn't have a lot of nice things to say about it in the book passage of Jarman's that Peake references. Later on in an interview, Jarman would state something a bit different. It's that sort of thing that when you think about it for the first time, you actually realise you disliked school quite a bit. But as you get even older, there's a certain nostalgia about it that even though it was pretty bad, there were still some good memories too. But to be honest, looking at his experiences in school, I would not blame him for saying what he said.

After he left school, he spent some time at King's College London, but there is an awful lot of information regarding him at the Slade School of Fine Art. It is here where he meets some of the people who are going to inspire him and help him along the way - it is also where he is going to gain his edge to keep creating without a breath to stop. I think everyone who loves Derek Jarman as much as I do probably knows that Jarman was a prolific creator of great art. He had this wonderful mind in which there were so many things going on. What we have of this is his writings and his paintings (apart from his movies and theatre projects) where we can see him articulate these ideas so beautifully. It often gives me the sad reminder that he is, in fact, dead - and it makes me wish he were still alive.

I love the way the book talks about how Derek Jarman created spaces in which he would create more. I think many people forget that Jarman was basically broke as hell before he started making movies, to the point that he once lived in an abandoned place that was going to be demolished and so, he moved into a different and just as cheap place. The book often talks about what he bought to make the place his own. Check out the passage below...

His early work in set design led to collaborations with notable figures such as Ken Russell, contributing to films like The Devils (1971). Jarman's compelling use of colour, texture, and symbolism in set design translated into his painting and filmmaking, where he often challenged conventional aesthetics. I think the best example of 'challenging conventional aesthetics' really is the twisted beauty of his film Edward II. There is something fundamentally classic about that film, something that just has Derek Jarman's real quality written all over it. When we first see him start to make his movies, we have movies like Sebastiane (1976) where we can see this starting to form. A great early movie by Jarman is Jubilee (1978) which had a score by Brian Eno and one of the stars of the show was Nell Campbell. I mean, that's something else entirely for an early movie career and is quite the testament to Jarman's strength.

Of course, there's some religious symbolism that underscores many of Jarman's works. One of my favourite films in the world is Caravaggio (1986) and there is very obvious imagery there. There is a blending of past and present that very much mixes the exuberance of Derek Jarman's filmmaking with the rough and coarse story of the life and times of Caravaggio, even if they are fictionalised to some degree. I know I've gone off topic from the book a little bit but I really do love that movie.

In 1986, Derek Jarman went public with his HIV positive diagnosis. In an interview, Derek Jarman talked about his decision to go public with it, somewhat implying it was part of the shamelessness of being gay. In the book, it is also seen as the defiance that Derek Jarman had always embodied up until his death. There is something amazing about the way he conducts himself during this time. He doesn't slow down, but he continues doing exactly what he enjoys. Even the way Jarman writes about what he enjoys is beautiful and often featured in the book. Below is a section about long before Jarman got sick and was living in London. His writing is gorgeous...

Well, there's probably so many more things I could say about this book and about how much I loved it, It goes through every piece of his life, every major person he knew and every single thing about the industry he changed. When we really look at it, the very idea of modern experimentation wouldn't be what it is today without Derek Jarman bursting into the room. A beautiful soul, he created timeless and brilliant classics, complete with artistic talent and a passion for storytelling.