Broken English

I wasn’t quite sure of the necessity for the almost Orwellian setting for this docudrama, nor for the role of the David Bowie-esque overseer (Tilda Swinton) but when we are just left with the enthusiastic George MacKay and the subject of this piece - Marianne Faithfull, it is quite an electric watch. She positively exudes charisma as she sits, oxygen tubes installed, and chats with his notional archivist about her much publicised life, loves and career. Spanning decades, she guides us through some of the most and least turbulent periods of her time in an industry that was somewhat unforgiving at the best of times, and downright hostile at others. She clearly likes MacKay and he her, and so the dynamic between them works well at sensitively discussing matters that, all bar one which she politely declines to talk about, might not be the top of her list of reminiscences. Faithfull presents herself with a mischievous authenticity; a trailblazer who didn’t believe herself anything especially talented nor beautiful - just an ordinary girl with a penchant for some lyric writing who happened to be in the right place at the right time. Supplementing her somewhat understated opionion of herself is quite an impressive array of archive footage from a variety of sources, including some rare content that she, herself, didn’t recall and that helps us to comprehend just how popular and how resilient she was, despite problems with booze and addiction, depression and even a suicide attempt. It also, as a by-product, showcases just how inane so many of the television interviewers were over the years, and we clearly observe her opinion of many of them in earthily expressed terms, too. I could have done with a little more of her performing as both a singer and an actor, but when we just sit and watch her and MacKay together chatting this really does feel like an intimate observational documentary about a woman who was as interesting as she was interested, and whom I left the cinema really quite liking.