The Tempest (1979)

Surprisingly, this is the first sound film version of William Shakespeare’s play made specifically for the cinema (aside from two genre classics loosely inspired by The Tempest, Yellow Sky and Forbidden Planet).

An idiosyncratic, iridescent visual poem, filmed in the former Cistercian abbey Stoneleigh Abbey. Its crumbling walls and catacombs evoke the gothic vedute of fallen Rome by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, surrounding Derek Jarman’s sparse yet artfully composed tableaux with a nightshade-like atmosphere.

Following an opening fever dream of a stormy sea, the movement of Shakespeare’s characters unfolds like a journey through an enchanted house. Historical periods blend together in extravagant costumes and set pieces, as Jarman pushes his interpretation of the text toward absurd comedy—culminating in a camp musical finale set to Elisabeth Welch’s rendition of “Stormy Weather.” (Christoph Huber)