# The Garden (1990 film)
**The Garden** is a 1990 British experimental arthouse film directed by [Derek Jarman](https://www.edgepedia.org/derek-jarman), a nearly wordless visual narrative based on the Gospels of Matthew and Luke that sets [New Testament](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-testament) events against contemporary Britain and explores homosexuality, Christianity, and persecution[1](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/the-garden) • [2](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/the-garden-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0yodmznjy). It stars [Tilda Swinton](https://www.edgepedia.org/tilda-swinton) as a Madonna figure and was filmed largely at Jarman's garden at Prospect Cottage in Dungeness, Kent, in the shadow of a nuclear power station[1](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/the-garden) • [3](https://www.gardenmuseum.org.uk/filming-derek-jarmans-the-garden-1990/).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / year | Derek Jarman, 1990; his eighth feature film[1](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/the-garden) • [4](https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2024/cteq/the-garden/) |
| Running time | 95 minutes per the British Council and Zeitgeist Films; 92 minutes per the BBFC, Eye Filmmuseum, and Guardian[1](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/the-garden) • [2](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/the-garden-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0yodmznjy) • [5](https://zeitgeistfilms.com/film/thegarden) |
| Principal cast | Tilda Swinton (the Madonna), Johnny Mills, Philip MacDonald, Pete Lee-Wilson, Spencer Lee, Roger Cook[1](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/the-garden) |
| Key crew | Producer James Mackay; cinematographer Christopher Hughes; editor Peter Cartwright; composer Simon Fisher Turner[1](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/the-garden) |
| Formats | Shot on Super 8, 16mm, and HI8 video, edited on video, then transferred to 35mm[6](https://zeitgeistfilms.com/sitelets/garden/booking.html) • [7](https://miff.com.au/festival-archive/films/19961/the-garden) |
| Festival record | Berlinale Forum 1991, OCIC Award - Honourable Mention; Teddy Award, Golden St. George, and Bronze Horse nominations[1](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/the-garden) • [8](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099634/awards/) |
| Restoration | 2K digital restoration from the negative by the BFI, premiered at the Berlin Film Festival on February 8, 2019[6](https://zeitgeistfilms.com/sitelets/garden/booking.html) • [9](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/the-garden/1468228) |
## Spoilers
### Story and themes
The film intercuts two main stories and a couple of minor ones. A woman, perhaps the Madonna, brings forth her baby to a crowd of intrusive paparazzi and tries to flee them. Two men who are lovers marry and are arrested by the powers that be; they are mocked and pilloried, tarred, feathered, and beaten. Loose in this contemporary world of electrical-power transmission lines is also Jesus, while the elements, particularly fire and water, contend with political power that the [British Council](https://www.edgepedia.org/british-council) synopsis describes as intolerant and murderous[1](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/the-garden).
The Viennale festival synopsis describes the garden of the title as becoming both [Gethsemane](https://www.edgepedia.org/gethsemane) and Eden, with the figure of Christ intermittently replaced by the two young lovers, who are arrested, persecuted, humiliated, and tortured in a fragmented exploration of the Passion[10](https://www.viennale.at/en/films/garden). The film examines the persecution of homosexuality through the centuries and interrogates the role of the church in the AIDS crisis[10](https://www.viennale.at/en/films/garden). The BBFC content notes for the 2019 release describe scenes of discriminatory violence in which a group of men whoop and laugh while tarring and feathering a gay couple, who are later whipped with sticks[2](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/the-garden-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0yodmznjy).
Not everything is solemn. Jarman himself stressed the film's more humorous and accessible side, and it includes scenes in which Judas sells the world on the idea of credit cards and cast members break into a rendition of "Think Pink" from the musical *Funny Face*[7](https://miff.com.au/festival-archive/films/19961/the-garden). Zeitgeist Films likewise notes an over-the-top Hollywood-style musical number among its kaleidoscopic contents[5](https://zeitgeistfilms.com/film/thegarden).
## Jarman's circumstances and the Dungeness setting
Jarman had been diagnosed HIV positive in 1988, and *The Garden* was made as he struggled with AIDS; it touches on the AIDS crisis and his own mortality[5](https://zeitgeistfilms.com/film/thegarden) • [10](https://www.viennale.at/en/films/garden). When it was released in 1990 he had been HIV positive for about two years and was visibly ailing, and he had every right to expect it would be his last film; he went on to make three more, *Edward II* (1991), *Wittgenstein* (1992), and *Blue* (1993)[4](https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2024/cteq/the-garden/).
**Prospect Cottage.** Jarman's garden at [Dungeness](https://www.edgepedia.org/dungeness) became the film's setting, an exploration of sexual repression, homophobia, and religious iconography[3](https://www.gardenmuseum.org.uk/filming-derek-jarmans-the-garden-1990/). Filming on the shingle was a challenge, with a single 16mm camera and heavy equipment and cables to maneuver across the ground[3](https://www.gardenmuseum.org.uk/filming-derek-jarmans-the-garden-1990/). In its opening stretch, the film focuses on the wind-battered scenery of the Kentish shoreline, weaving in footage of Jarman cultivating a garden at his house beneath the [Dungeness nuclear power station](https://www.edgepedia.org/dungeness-nuclear-power-plant).[10](https://www.viennale.at/en/films/garden)
Super 8 had been Jarman's original format. The small camera freed him from a tripod and allowed hand-held, free-flowing gestures, and the short jewel-like pieces he had captured in his garden, such as poppies with a bee hovering over them, were incorporated into the film, giving it a deeper sense of place[3](https://www.gardenmuseum.org.uk/filming-derek-jarmans-the-garden-1990/). Jarman himself appears repeatedly, watering the garden, potting up cuttings, preparing ground for new plants, and placing his talismanic rosaries of stones[3](https://www.gardenmuseum.org.uk/filming-derek-jarmans-the-garden-1990/). The 16mm and Super 8 footage in yellow, red, and blue Kodak colors was shot both by Jarman and by a close-knit group of friends, and some of it shows the physically run-down filmmaker working among the roses[9](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/the-garden/1468228).
## Production and sound
Producer James Mackay met Jarman in 1979 at the London Filmmakers' Co-op and, after working with him on *[The Angelic Conversation](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-angelic-conversation)* (1985), set about raising finances for a feature-length film in the late 1980s[3](https://www.gardenmuseum.org.uk/filming-derek-jarmans-the-garden-1990/). Production companies included Basilisk Communications, Channel 4, British Screen Productions, ZDF, and Uplink[10](https://www.viennale.at/en/films/garden).
Because so much of the film was shot silently on Super 8, the sound had to be created from scratch. Composer Simon Fisher Turner produced a soundtrack of original and precomposed music, sound effects, and voice-over, and Jarman's rejection of onscreen dialogue left the sound and image tracks free to work independently[11](https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/bitstreams/fc281e17-be3e-49ba-a5b4-494d7df625be/download). The composer is credited as Simon Fisher-Turner in the British Council credits and Simon Fisher Turner elsewhere[1](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/the-garden) • [6](https://zeitgeistfilms.com/sitelets/garden/booking.html).
## Reception and restoration
The film was originally screened in the Forum program of the Berlinale in 1991, where it won an OCIC Award - Honourable Mention[1](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/the-garden). It was also nominated for the Teddy Award for Best Feature Film at Berlin, the Golden St. George at the Moscow International Film Festival, and the Bronze Horse at the Stockholm Film Festival, all in 1991[8](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099634/awards/).
After being unavailable for twenty years and never released on DVD in the United States, the film returned in a 2K restoration from the negative by the BFI, with Halo Post London handling digital restoration work[6](https://zeitgeistfilms.com/sitelets/garden/booking.html) • [1](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/the-garden). The restored version had its premiere at the Berlin Film Festival on February 8, 2019, before beginning its run at New York's Metrograph on May 28 of that year[6](https://zeitgeistfilms.com/sitelets/garden/booking.html) • [5](https://zeitgeistfilms.com/film/thegarden). The BBFC classified the restored version for cinema release on March 14, 2019[2](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/the-garden-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0yodmznjy).
On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 100% Tomatometer score from 8 critics and a 74% audience score, with critics including Janet Maslin of *The New York Times* praising its burning, kaleidoscopic energy[12](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_garden_1990). Its US theatrical gross was $3.9K[12](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_garden_1990).
## Place in Jarman's work
The film is widely treated as one of the most personal in Jarman's oeuvre[9](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/the-garden/1468228). BFI program notes place it as the final film in an unwitting trilogy on the moral, social, and spiritual decline of England that began with *Jubilee* in the late 1970s and continued with *[The Last of England](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-last-of-england)* in the late 1980s[13](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/big%20screen%20classics/2026/04/01/garden/). Jarman described the film as "home-movie making really gone sort of slightly grand," and it had been a serious project in his mind since 1987, though he never wrote a script for it[14](https://wiki.chadnet.org/files/soiled-sinema.pdf). His partnership with Tilda Swinton, which began with *[Caravaggio](https://www.edgepedia.org/caravaggio-1986-film)* (1986) and continued through *The Garden*, was later marked by her campaign to preserve Prospect Cottage[15](https://www.wallpaper.com/art/exhibitions-shows/tilda-swinton-eye-filmmuseum-amsterdam).
## References
1. [The Garden, British Council UK Films Database](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/the-garden)
2. [The Garden, BBFC](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/the-garden-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0yodmznjy)
3. [The story behind the making of Derek Jarman's 'The Garden' (1990), Garden Museum](https://www.gardenmuseum.org.uk/filming-derek-jarmans-the-garden-1990/)
4. [The Garden, Senses of Cinema CTEQ Annotations (Brian Hoyle & Jo George, November 2024)](https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2024/cteq/the-garden/)
5. [The Garden, Zeitgeist Films](https://zeitgeistfilms.com/film/thegarden)
6. [The Garden booking page, Zeitgeist Films](https://zeitgeistfilms.com/sitelets/garden/booking.html)
7. [The Garden, MIFF Film Archive](https://miff.com.au/festival-archive/films/19961/the-garden)
8. [The Garden (1990) Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099634/awards/)
9. [The Garden, Eye Filmmuseum](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/the-garden/1468228)
10. [The Garden, Viennale](https://www.viennale.at/en/films/garden)
11. [Playing in The Garden: Sound, Indiana Theory Review Vol. 19](https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/bitstreams/fc281e17-be3e-49ba-a5b4-494d7df625be/download)
12. [The Garden (1990), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_garden_1990)
13. [The Garden, BFI Southbank Programme Notes](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/big%20screen%20classics/2026/04/01/garden/)
14. [Soiled Sinema essay on The Garden](https://wiki.chadnet.org/files/soiled-sinema.pdf)
15. [Tilda Swinton interview, Wallpaper*](https://www.wallpaper.com/art/exhibitions-shows/tilda-swinton-eye-filmmuseum-amsterdam)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 1990s › Drama films early 1990s*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license