Pandaemonium!

Julien Temple, Martin Hesp, Chris Edwards 

On Saturday, the fabulous grounds of Fyne Court (NT) just north of Taunton, and nestled to the easterly end of the majestic Quantock Hills, played host to it's first 'live screening' event.

Julien Temple

Just around the turn of the millennium Julien Temple (pictured) directed a film about the Samuel Taylor Coleridge called Pandaemonium, so called as a description of hell by Milton and referenced by Coleridge himself.

The film had a brace of great actors, and conveys the stormy tale of Coleridge's early years when he lived in the Quantocks and wrote many of his most celebrated pieces. The film also documents his battle and subsequent demise due to Laudanum - an Opium and Alcohol mixture, which in Coleridge's time was as prevalent and as common as Asprin, and often administered for tooth aches!

However I am getting ahead of myself, for before the film was to be screened, we were treated to a live interview by Martin Hesp, author, journalist and long time Coleridgean fan. Martin, was a great choice as he himself grew up close by and so many of the locations and scenes are of familiar places. But I think this could be said for many of us attending that night including Julien who spent childhood holidays tramping Coleridge country, and in fact the main star of the evening were infact the Quantock Hills themselves.

Music room at Fyne Court

The ambiance and weather was great, most had brought seats and cushions along with a bottle or two, and it was fun looking around at the audience in their eclectic fashion; which I think really pays homage not only to Coleridge's diversity in poetry, but also to Julien's 'rock and roll' film making history. His portfolio is one peppered with the likes of David Bowie and The Rolling Stones, and you would think that period drama would seem more of a wild card in this deck, but I think that's just the way Julien would like it, the last thing he is is predictable.

The punks picnic!

So as the evening drew on it became apparent to me of the history all around us, for the projector wall was that of the Music room, which was the study of the early scientist and electrical pioneer Andrew Crosse. Here Crosse had run wires out from his laboratory and across the lawn where we were sitting, these would capture atmospheric electrical charge which he would then force through materials and fluids to try and replicate the very beginnings of life. This was where he was trying to re animate life itself, and Coleridge and the Wordsworths famously visited him at the time. He is probably best know as the inspiration behind Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

Serving the Kubla Beer (Very nice)

The location had come full circle, not only were parts of the film shot here, replicating events which had happened years ago, but now we were also party to that continuing linage, projecting moving images made possible through these pioneering experiments. I wonder what Andrew Crosse would have thought about the microphones and data projector used for the show, I am sure he would have been in his element.

So as I said the real star of the show was the Quantock Hills themselves, they outshone the actors, and perhaps even the poetry. So when I asked what will be the next screening at Fyne Court, it's a really tricky question, because truly this film and all it's connections to the place and the people (everyone knows someone who was an extra!) is a real hard act to follow.


May I suggest a double bill of Ken Russell's 'Gothic' followed by a classic black and white Frankenstein...