INCLUDES Q&A WITH FILMMAKER!

SEPARATION
dir. Jack Bond, 1968
UK. 93 min.
In English.

“A new dimension of love.”

Set in 1960s London, Jack Bond’s feature debut concerns the inner turmoil of Jane (played by screenwriter Jane Arden), as she experiences breakdowns of both her marriage and mental health. The film is a wildly imaginative and brilliantly fragmented work, rife with contrasts and contradictions (self-) reflective of Jane’s own existential dilemma, intertwining flashbacks with flashforwards, fantasy with reality, blistering social commentary with nihilistic politics, and delirious liquid light color projections (courtesy of artist Mark Boyle) with Aubrey Dewar’s and David Muir’s intimate black-and-white photography.

In addition to being a landmark independent production made entirely outside of the British studio system, the film also marks a foundational moment in the creative partnership between Bond and Arden. Although the two had previously worked together on the New Release documentary film, DALI IN NEW YORK (1966), in which Arden walked the streets of New York with the titular surrealist discussing his work, SEPARATION was arguably the first true marriage of Bond’s and Arden’s creative sensibilities, combining the former’s fascination with subconscious realism with the latter’s proclivities for radical feminist and anti-psychiatry themes.