The Transnational Counterculture: Notes on 'Performance' (1970)

(Blog written Autumn, 2016)

(Performance)

As Marianne Faithful delineates rather perfectly, Performance (Cammell & Roeg, 1970) "preserves a whole era under glass" (Wollen, 1995). Like Blow-up (Antonioni, 1966) before it, Performance encapsulates a mode, a time, and a place, drenched in all the glory of psychedelia, hedonism, and decadence. But, behind the streets of swinging Chelsea, is there a national cinema absorbed by America?

British cinema of the 1970s is, through common critical discourse, defined as a "continuing imitation of American genres" (Sargeant, 2005). Performance has many elements of the gangster genre within it, a genre distinctively American, and also appears to be in the same vein as countercultural films such as The Trip (Corman, 1967), or Psych-Out (Rush, 1968), both stylistically and thematically. Furthermore, the exploration of the 'star image' has always been a prominent theme of American cinema, a characteristic typically "Hollywoodian" (Sargeant, 2005). The sense of play and deconstruction of Jagger's star persona echoes Bob Dylan's in the documentary Don't Look Back (Pennebaker, 1967). These obvious ties with American cinema signify a film heavily influenced by the U.S, and suggests a contradiction with its seemingly unique and individual nature.

However, Performance is just as influenced by European surrealism and Europe's new wave movements of the 60s as it is American cinema, if not more. Stylistically, the LSD soaked second half of the film echoes surrealist cinema, and its use of handheld camera and location shooting reverberates the French new wave. Furthermore, its delayed release (produced in 1968) means that it predates Easy Rider (Hopper, 1969), and sits comfortably as not an imitator of the American counterculture, but much rather a part of a transnational counterculture.

As a whole, Performance is essentially unique and individual in its strange expression of the counterculture in both 1960s London, and the movement across America and Europe. It snacks on American cinema, but is not consumed by it. The result is an example of British cinema influenced by other arts and other national cinemas, but still able to claim a sense of distinct individuality.

Bibliography Sargeant, A. (2005). '1970's. British Cinema: A Critical History: pp. 276-288 Wollen, P. (September, 1995). 'Possession'. Sight and Sound: 5/9. p 20.

Filmography

Performance (1970). (DVD) Directed by Donald Camwell & Nicolas Roeg. UK, Warner bros. Easy Rider (1969). (DVD) Directed by Dennis Hopper. US, Columbia Pictures. Blow-up (1966). (DVD) Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. UK, MGM. The Trip (1967). (DVD) Directed by Roger Corman. US, MGM. Psych-Out (1968). (DVD) Directed by Ronald Rush. US, MGM. Don't Look Back (1967). (DVD) Directed by D.A Pennebaker. US, Docurama.