Review: Friendship’s Death
Blu-ray & DVD: Friendship’s Death (1987)
I’ve never come across Friendship’s Death before and on reading the synopsis I immediately got the feeling it would be an hour long art-slog. And although it can be placed in the ‘arty’ box, it’s also an intriguingly good watch. Written and directed by the late English critic and film theorist Peter Wollen (his only film as sole director), it is a two-handed tale featuring Bill Paterson as Sullivan, a grizzly, whiskey loving journalist more or less captive in a hotel in Amman in Jordan in 1970s during the civil war and the ‘Black September’ period of PLO hijackings, and Tilda Swinton as ‘Friendship’, who appears one day in his room, with no papers and nowhere to go.
Swinton and Paterson are always watchable, and this early (1987) coupling is perfect. Paterson, world weary is still attractive and Swinton is almost an ethereal ‘Man Who Fell to Earth’ mixed up with Scheherazade, as she reveals herself to be a robot from an alien planet sent here to land in America to promote peace.
He doesn’t believe her…at first, but on finding something ‘alien’ snooping about in her room, he begins to question and treat her as an alien entity.
It’s a short film, and I suppose sections of it can be seen as wordy for showing off sake, but there’s something about this film, it’s funny, not laugh out loud, but gently comedic in the alien’s views of, for instance, football.
The extra’s on the disc really added to my enjoyment of the story, seeing Paterson and Swinton meet again via Zoom and discuss making it is a joy, and being a huge Frida Kahlo fan, the addition of a 30 minute documentary about her with Tina Modetti was wonderful.
This film isn’t what you think it’s going to be. It’s better.
Special Features:
- Remastered in 4K by the BFI National Archive from the original Standard 16mm colour negative and soundtrack digitised directly from the original 35mm final mix magnetic master track.
- Newly recorded audio commentary with producer Rebecca O’Brien, cinematographer Witold Stok and BFI curator Josephine Botting
- Reflections on Friendship’s Death (2020, 40 mins): Tilda Swinton, Bill Paterson, Rebecca O’Brien and Witold Stok join BFI curators Will Massa and Josephine Botting to talk about Friendship’s Death
- Peter Wollen – Writing, Politics, Film (2020, 63 mins): academics and filmmakers Laura Mulvey and Kodwo Eshun join BFI archivist Wendy Russell for an appreciation of the work of Peter Wollen
- Frida Kahlo & Tina Modotti (1983, 30 mins): documentary by Laura Mulvey and Peter Wollen exploring the work of painter Frida Kahlo and photographer Tina Modotti, female icons of the Mexican Renaissance. It features footage of Modotti in the 1920 Hollywood film The Tiger’s Coat and some exquisite home movie shots of Frida Kahlo and muralist Diego Rivera
- Newly created French subtitles (feature only)
- ***First pressing only*** Illustrated booklet with a new essay by So Mayer, an archival interview with Peter Wollen by Simon Field, an archival review by Thomas Elsaesser, notes on the special features and full credits
Review by Tina from a disc kindly supplied by the BFI.
