Separation
Directed byJack Bond
Written byJane Arden
Produced byJack Bond
StarringJane Arden
CinematographyAubrey Dewar
David Muir
Edited byMichael Johns
Music byStanley Myers
Production
company
Bond Films
Release date
25 March 1968
Running time
93 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Separation is a 1968 British experimental drama film written by and starring Jane Arden and directed by Jack Bond.[1] In addition to Jane Arden, the film stars the British actors David de Keyser and Iain Quarrier. The mostly black and white film occasionally cuts to colour sequences.

Plot

The film concerns the inner life of a woman during a period of breakdown - marital and possibly mental. Her past and (possible?) future are revealed through a fragmented but brilliantly achieved and often humorous narrative, in which dreams and desires are as real as Swinging London, the film's setting.

Cast

Production

Filming

The film was shot around London and at Caravel Studios and was completed at Twickenham Film Studios.

Music

The film features on its soundtrack music by Stanley Myers, one song ("Salad Days") by the British rock group Procol Harum and instrumental music by Procol's original Hammond organist Matthew Fisher.

Release

Unavailability

After its release, Separation was thought lost and was barely known for decades until its re-release.

Home media

The film was restored by the British Film Institute for DVD and Blu-ray Disc and re-released in the UK on 13 July 2009. Another edition of the DVD, with a different cover photo and music credits for Procol Harum on the front cover and for Stanley Myers, Procol Harum and Matthew Fisher on the back cover, was released in the US in March, 2010. Separation was released on DVD in the U.S. for the first time on 30 March 2010 by Microcinema.

Critical reception

  • 'Astonishingly distressing and perceptive ... it leaves one looking forward to Mr Bond's next film with genuine excitement' - The Observer
  • 'Stunningly photographed and rather stylishly splintered in time between past and present, between fantasy and reality' - Vincent Canby, The New York Times
  • 'Verdict: Cinema Bonkers' - Daily Mirror
  • 'Shows great strength where British cinema has been weakest' - The Guardian
  • 'There can be no doubt that Jack Bond understands the articulation of film' - Films and Filming

References

  1. ↑ Review from the New York Times, 26 March 1968


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