Separation

A fascinating snapshot of London in the swinging sixties, with mandatory experimental editing and a Procul Harum soundtrack, reminiscent of Blow-Up and Repulsion and some things by Nicholas Roeg like Performance, but shot more like a handheld B&W from the French New Wave. The story doesn't seem to add up to anything particularly coherent and the dialogue is mainly improvised but the scenes depicting the central character's crumbling mental health are still powerful.

An odd bit of trivia is the final scene looks uncannily like it is shot in the same park as the one featured so significantly in Blow-Up, but the director Jack Bond swears it is not so, and that he has in fact never even seen that film.

Very much of its time, this Jane Arden project, directed by Jack Bond may perplex today's viewers but was one of several similar experimental films in the late 60s that tried to find new ways, visually, to tell a story. Crisp and arty black and white photography is supplemented here and there by stunning full colour liquid light creations by Mark Boyle. Though the film barely has a linear structure it holds the attention through the beautiful images and somewhat disturbing repeated lines of dialogue. There may not be as many elements of 'swinging London' as some would like but the film as a whole is a striking example and I would have thought that it would be possible to date this film from almost any frame. On a point of order, it has been mentioned that the park seen a few times might be Maryon Park, in Charlton, South London, the park used by Antonioni in Blow Up. This is clearly not so and my guess would be Holland Park.