"Only Lovers Left Alive" Jim Jarmusch and his world depicted through vampires

The charm of British actress Tilda Swinton

Tilda Swinton, who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as a lawyer in the American film The Fixer (2007), is a unique British actress. In recent years, he has appeared in Wes Anderson's ` `Moonrise Kingdom '' (2012), ` `The Grand Budapest Hotel '' (14), and the American comic book `` Doctor Strange '' (16), making him well known to a wide range of audiences. However, she got her start in British independent films.

His first major role was in `` Caravaggio '' (1986), about an Italian painter, which was the breakthrough film for British art director Derek Jarman. After that, "Aria" (omnibus film, 1987), " The Last of England " (1988), " War Requiem " (1989), " The Garden " (1990), " Edward II " (1992), " Wittgenstein ' (1993) and other works, she appeared one after another in German's works and became his muse.

Originally a painter, Jarman, who entered the film industry by creating the art for director Ken Russell's masterpiece The Devil in the Flesh (1971), had a unique sense of aesthetics. At the time, Tilda, who was so beautiful that it seemed out of this world, was the actress who embodied his aesthetic. I actually met Tilda when she came to Japan with German and others in the late 1980s. She was slender and tall, and she dressed well like a model, giving me the impression that she was an intelligent and classy The Handmaiden. Although she still had an innocent feel to her, at that time she never dreamed that she would become an active actress in Hollywood movies like she is now.

"Only Lovers Left Alive" (c)Photofest / Getty Images

Jarman, whom she deeply respects, is also known as a director who continues to fight for the rights of oppressed gays, and in the 1990s he made a film version of Christopher Marlowe's ``Edward II.'' It is a powerful masterpiece that tells the story of Edward II, a 14th century king, and his wife Isabella, who suffer a tragic end due to homosexuality, and also intertwines the issue of gay discrimination in modern Britain. Tilda Swinton plays the role of Isabella, the queen who is betrayed by the king, and she plays the heroine who gradually becomes evil because she cannot gain the love of the king, and she won the Best Actress Award at the Venice Film Festival. There is.

In this movie, Christopher Marlowe also appears as a vampire who lives near Eve's house in Tangier. As someone who is familiar with the movie version of Edward II, I'm sure that I'll be happy to hear that Marlowe, the original author of this work, and the character played by Tilda are friends.

Jarmusch himself has said this about the use of Tilda: ``Vampires are not rude monsters, they are very sophisticated.I have a very vampire-like image of Tilda.She is pale and well-groomed.'' "He has a big face and moves very gracefully." (Time Out, February 18, 2014 issue) Their first work together was " Broken Flowers " (2005), but they have also worked together on " Limits of They also collaborated on ``Control '' (2009) and `` The Dead Don't Die ''.

Looking back, `` Edward II '' contained some meaningful depictions. After being betrayed by her husband, Isabella becomes obsessed with power and kills Edward II's younger brother. At that moment, she sinks her teeth into her brother's neck. The cruel punchline is that the queen, who was innocent at first, has turned into a vampire-like woman. According to Derek Jarman's book `` Edward II Queer '' (uplink, published by Kawade Shobo Shinsha), there were voices on set saying, ``(Because of this scene), Tilda will be flooded with requests to star in horror movies.'' It was said that he had been flying around, but the day had finally come for him to play the leading role as a vampire.

16th century writer Christopher Marlowe was also a vampire