T. S. Eliot called poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1837) "a haunted man" and Thomas Colley Grattan said of him, "He seemed to breathe in words." But Virginia Woolf best conveyed the energy and expansiveness of his artistic gifts when she wrote: "As we enter his radius, he seems not a man, but a swarm, a cloud, a buzz of words, darting this way and that, clustering, quivering, and hanging suspended."
Perhaps director Julien Temple and writer Frank Cottrell Boyce (Hilary and Jackie) had that description in mind when they came up with this wildly inventive portrait of the famous nineteenth-century poet. William Wordsworth (John Hannah) first hears Coleridge (Linus Roache) at a political rally in 1795 where he is proclaiming the exhilarations of liberty, democracy, and free speech. John Thelwall (Andy Serkis), a political revolutionary, is secretly publishing "The Watchman," a radical tract filled with the poet's ideas.
But Coleridge tires of politics and heads off to Somerset where he has grand visions of establishing a "New Eden" in the countryside. He, his wife Sara (Samantha Morton), and their child are joined by Wordsworth and his brilliant and outspoken sister Dorothy (Emily Woof). She quickly becomes Coleridge's muse — pushing him to more daring poetry than that which focuses on "the narrowly domestic."
Although the purpose of the two poets' wilderness retreat is to collaborate on a work of inspired genius, Wordsworth finds himself blocked in the presence of Coleridge's imaginative bounties. "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" dominates their shared Lyrical Ballads. When Coleridge's opium-induced hallucinations take over his life during the creation of "Kubla Khan," Wordsworth abandons him. He marries Mary (Emma Fielding), a prudish woman who disapproves of his friend's wild and uncivilized behavior. The stranded Dorothy eventually turns to opium as a stay against loneliness.
T. S. Eliot called poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1837) "a haunted man" and Thomas Colley Grattan said of him, "He seemed to breathe in words." But Virginia Woolf best conveyed the energy and expansiveness of his artistic gifts when she wrote: "As we enter his radius, he seems not a man, but a swarm, a cloud, a buzz of words, darting this way and that, clustering, quivering, and hanging suspended." Perhaps director Julien Temple and writer Frank Cottrell Boyce (Hilary and Jackie) had that description in mind when they came up with this wildly inventive portrait of the famous nineteenth-century poet.
William Wordsworth (John Hannah) first hears Coleridge (Linus Roache) at a political rally in 1795 where he is proclaiming the exhilarations of liberty, democracy, and free speech. John Thelwall (Andy Serkis), a political revolutionary, is secretly publishing "The Watchman," a radical tract filled with the poet's ideas.
Coleridge soon tires of politics, however, and heads off to Somerset where he has grand visions of establishing a "New Eden" in the countryside. He, his wife Sara (Samantha Morton), and their child are joined by Wordsworth and his brilliant and outspoken sister Dorothy (Emily Woof). She quickly becomes Coleridge's muse — pushing him to more daring poetry than that which focuses on "the narrowly domestic."
Although the purpose of the two poets' wilderness retreat is to collaborate on a work of inspired genius, Wordsworth finds himself blocked in the presence of Coleridge's imaginative bounties. "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" dominates their shared Lyrical Ballads. When Coleridge's opium-induced hallucinations take over his life during the creation of "Kubla Khan," Wordsworth abandons him. He marries Mary (Emma Fielding), a prudish woman who disapproves of his friend's wild and uncivilized behavior. The stranded Dorothy eventually turns to opium as a stay against loneliness.
Although the dramatic focus of the film is on the obstacles in the friendship and collaboration between the poets, the most engaging theme is the relationship between Coleridge and Dorothy. Early on, she falls in love with him but concedes his body to Sara in exchange for his "soaring soul." Emily Woof gives an inspired performance as this extraordinary woman.
As a paean to the power of imagination, Pandaemonium is an impressive work. Coleridge uses this faculty as a telescope to explore the far reaches of inner space. Another delight in this drama is the way Wordsworth and Coleridge use walking as a spur to their creativity.
