Set in 1960s London, James Fox plays Chas, a bisexual gangster on the run from his colleagues who is trying to disguise himself so that he can slip out of England. Chas finds a vast Notting Hill townhouse occupied by burned-out ex-pop-star Turner (Mick Jagger) and his lovers Pherber (Anita Pallenberg) and Lucy (Michele Brèton). Turner has become a hermit living in his own little world of art, sex, music, and drugs. When Turner meets Chas he immediately recognizes something of his younger daring self in the persona of the violent gangster. Turner embarks on a plan of mental seduction to absorb Chas’s identity into his own by covertly poisoning Chas with drugs, sex and rock and roll. The longer Chas and Turner are together the more they begin to blend. At this point the storyline becomes concerned with the disintegration of Chas perceptions about himself and his world. As the identities of the two men become blurred the film becomes an assault of jump-cuts, point-of-view shifts, visual effects, elliptical editing and seamless changes between fantasy and reality. —Spinningimage.co.uk

Director

Donald Cammell

Donald Seaton Cammell (17 January 1934 – 24 April 1996) was a Scottish film director who enjoys a cult reputation thanks to his debut film Performance, which he co-directed with Nicolas Roeg.

Cammell was born in the Camera Obscura (then known as Outlook Tower) on Castlehill, near the castle in Edinburgh, Scotland, the son of the poet and writer Charles Richard Cammell. The older Cammell wrote a biography of Aleister Crowley focusing principally on the occultist’s poetry. Crowley, who lived near the Cammells for a time, knew the young Donald. A prodigy, he was a society portrait painter and thanks to family connections, a prominent fixture of the “swinging London” social scene of the 1960s, specifically of what became known as the “Chelsea Set.”

He wrote and co-directed Performance with Nicolas Roeg in 1968, though he didn’t get another film produced until Demon Seed in 1977. Cammell also made the eccentric horror thriller White of the Eye in 1987. Between infrequent film… read more

Donald Seaton Cammell (17 January 1934 – 24 April 1996) was a Scottish film director who enjoys a cult reputation thanks to his debut film Performance, which he co-directed with Nicolas Roeg.

Cammell was born in the Camera Obscura (then known as Outlook Tower) on Castlehill, near the castle in Edinburgh, Scotland, the son of the poet and writer Charles Richard Cammell. The older Cammell wrote a biography of Aleister Crowley focusing principally on the occultist’s poetry. Crowley, who lived near the Cammells for a time, knew the young Donald. A prodigy, he was a society portrait painter and thanks to family connections, a prominent fixture of the “swinging London” social scene of the 1960s, specifically of what became known as the “Chelsea Set.”

He wrote and co-directed Performance with Nicolas Roeg in 1968, though he didn’t get another film produced until Demon Seed in 1977. Cammell also made the eccentric horror thriller White of the Eye in 1987. Between infrequent film and TV directing jobs, Cammell directed music videos for the likes of U2.

When Cammell’s 1995 film Wild Side was cut by the producer, he committed suicide in Hollywood, California by shooting himself. His wife claimed the wound was not immediately fatal and that he asked for a mirror so that he could watch himself die; the claim would later be disputed in Cammell’s published biography. A posthumous “director’s cut,” commissioned by FilmFour and edited by his widow and co-screenwriter China Kong and editor Frank Mazzola, was released in 2000 to critical acclaim.

In 2005, Fan-Tan, a novel Cammell conceived with actor Marlon Brando in 1978, was published.

Cammell was a central figure in the making of Performance. In writing the screenplay he drew on his familiarity with the London underworld of the 1960s and association with the pop musicians of the day. In his collaboration with Roeg, Cammell concentrated on working with the actors and did most of the prolonged editing of the film in California; producer Sanford ‘Sandy’ Lieberson and co-director Roeg were busy on other projects. —Wikipedia

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Nicolas Roeg

London-born Nicolas Roeg served in the military as a projectionist, and entered the movie industry immediately after World War II as a gofer and apprentice editor. He joined MGM’s British studios in 1950, and eventually became a cinematographer in 1959, working on a multitude of films of all types, from second unit work on Lawrence of Arabia (1962) to primary photography on the rock & roll exploitation films Just for Fun (1963), Every Day’s a Holiday (1965), and The System (1966). He moved into the director’s chair with Performance (1970), which he co-directed with Donald Cammell, and made a major impression with the low-keyed, eerily compelling drama Walkabout (1971). By the mid-‘70s, Roeg was one of England’s most respected filmmakers, responsible for the unsettling thriller Don’t Look Now (1973), and the sci-fi drama The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976). With the possible exception Insignificance (1985) and the compellingly obscure Track 29 (1988) Roeg’s output throughout the 1980s… read more

London-born Nicolas Roeg served in the military as a projectionist, and entered the movie industry immediately after World War II as a gofer and apprentice editor. He joined MGM’s British studios in 1950, and eventually became a cinematographer in 1959, working on a multitude of films of all types, from second unit work on Lawrence of Arabia (1962) to primary photography on the rock & roll exploitation films Just for Fun (1963), Every Day’s a Holiday (1965), and The System (1966). He moved into the director’s chair with Performance (1970), which he co-directed with Donald Cammell, and made a major impression with the low-keyed, eerily compelling drama Walkabout (1971). By the mid-‘70s, Roeg was one of England’s most respected filmmakers, responsible for the unsettling thriller Don’t Look Now (1973), and the sci-fi drama The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976). With the possible exception Insignificance (1985) and the compellingly obscure Track 29 (1988) Roeg’s output throughout the 1980s unfortunately failed to maintain the inspired creativity of his output in the previous decade.
In 1990 Roeg showed promise for the new decade with what was perhaps his most successful film to date, the visually lavish family fantasy The Witches. A wonderfully creative take on acclaimed author Roald Dahl’s beloved children’s book, the film showcased Roeg’s remarkable visual flair in a format suitable for the whole family. Unfortunately the film wasn’t a true indicator for his output in the remainder of the decade. Despite the fact that his pace lagged somewhat after The Witches, 1994’s Heart of Darkness did offer an interesting take on Joseph Conrad’s novel, and those who suspected Full Body Massage was nothing more than made-for-cable softcore were actually treated to a thoughtful meditation on intimacy and human relations. In 2004 Roeg was set to make a return to the horror genre with the philosophical chiller Adina. Nicolas Roeg’s son has gained fame in the film industry in his own right as the producer of such efforts as The Matchmaker (1997) and Spider (2002).—allmovie guide

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