John Doran and Luke Turner examine Performance (1970), a countercultural British film shot in 1967 featuring Mick Jagger’s acting debut alongside James Fox and Anita Pallenberg, directed by Donald Cammell. The podcast explores how the film deconstructs performance of identity—sexuality, class, nationality, masculinity—through visual psychology of sex and violence, incorporating literary references to Yeats, Burroughs, Artaud, and Borges. Despite its commercial appeal via the Rolling Stones’ star power, Performance emerged as one of British cinema’s darkest and strangest works, addressing censorship-era constraints. The hosts contextualize the film within broader 1960s darkness: Crowley mysticism, Francis Bacon’s art, Brian Jones’ death, Altamont Speedway violence, the Kray Twins, and the Manson family, positioning Performance alongside Withnail & I as essential documentation of the 1960s’ violent conclusion.
Original article published on The Quietus — AI-generated summary.
