Friendship's Death

Peter Wollen, UK, 1987, 90 minutes

To those who seek proof of innovation in British cinema, this film by Wollen, gives the best answer: with a minimal economy of means, a purely theatrical setting (the film is shot exclusively on interior locations and the only exterior shots consist of some stock footage), and only two actors, Friendship's Death comes to terms with its own simplicity avoiding carefully a lapse of pretentiousness.

A British journalist (Bill Paterson) is sent to the Middle East to cover the conflict between Palestinians and the Jordanians in 1970, and saves a young woman (Tilda Swinton) from a PLO guard. Her name, she says is Friendship, and claims to be an alien on a mission to Earth. Having lost he initial destination (MIT), she stays provisionally with him...

The dilemma which the journalist faces is centred around the validity of her assertion as to her identity. He embarks on several discussions with her in order to find the truth but he is instead thrown into some trouble by her arguments. Indeed at this point the film acquires its virtues. The sense of the altogether different perspective of the alien fructities what otherwise might have been a dull treatment of current political and philosophical issues. What is also particularly admirable in Wollen's direction is the fact that the content of the discussions and the peculiar intensity which radiates from the encounter of these two profoundly diverse characters, fully compensate for the lack of any technical extravaganza. The script, as you would expect from Wollen, is witty and quite amusing at points. However, it is the pedbrmances from Paterson as the journalist who becomes "enlightened" by the strange encounter, and from Swinton as the elegant and enigmatic visitor, that point to the film's ultimate strength, which is no other than the ability to extract from such a cerebral narrative, a warmth that other films struggle vainly to attain.

Review by Spiros Gangas
Taken from EUFS Programme 1993-94