Edward II
Great Adaptations
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1h 30m
Directed by Derek Jarman | 90 mins | 1991
Jarman’s lusciously Brechtian adaptation of the Christopher Marlowe play, its regal production design furnished by his biggest budget yet, leans all the way into the queer subtext of its source material. Tilda Swinton radiates as Queen Isabella, resentful of the barely concealed affair brewing between her husband, Edward, and his favorite courtier, Piers Gaveston. Through pointed use of anachronism, this centuries-old tale became a modern gay rights parable and a New Queer Cinema lodestone.
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