Pandemonium Review

William Wordsworth is little more than a simpering hanger-on, riding Coleridge's creative coat-tails, in this biased biopic.

by Mark Dinning |
Published on
Release Date:

01 Jan 2000

Running Time:

125 minutes

Certificate:

12

Original Title:

Pandemonium

Following The Filth And The Fury, Julien Temple here turns his hand to more drug abuse and soul destruction: the world of 19th century poetry.

Like The Sex Pistols doc, Temple wears his heart on his flouncy sleeve as he focuses on the relationship between William Wordsworth (Hannah) and Samuel Coleridge (Roache).

Frank Cottrell Boyce's screenplay depicts the former as little more than a simpering hanger-on, riding Coleridge's creative coat-tails. Temple's direction similarly mirrors this, with Wordsworth's wanderings shot in colourless hues, and those of Coleridge with a terrifically manic, opiate-induced quality.

A biased but visually barnstorming biopic.
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