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Pandaemonium

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United Kingdom · 2001
2h 4m
Director Julien Temple
Starring Linus Roache, John Hannah, Samantha Morton, Emily Woof
Genre Drama

Set in England during the early 19th century, Pandaemonium evokes late-1960s America in its depiction of the relationship between Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Linus Roach) and William Wordsworth (John Hannah). Instead of going to Vietnam, Wordsworth goes off to fight against the French while Coleridge stays at home and promotes utopianism. After the war, the poets live and work together with Coleridge's wife, Sara (Samantha Morton), and Wordsworth's sister, Dorothy (Emily Woof). At first this communal arrangement works to the advantage of Coleridge--who does some of his best writing while Wordsworth stagnates--until Coleridge becomes addicted to opium. Wordsworth, meanwhile, doesn't find his voice until he abandons his friend. In 20th-century vernacular, Wordsworth is the yuppie, Coleridge the hippie.

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What are critics saying?

50

Variety by Dennis Harvey

Never quite dull, neither does it ever find a viable rhythm, narrative arc or crux of emotional engagement.

63

New York Daily News by Jack Mathews

Treats the poets not as creative equals but as a groundbreaking genius and a jealous, vindictive hack. Wordsworth is Salieri to Coleridge's Mozart.

70

Los Angeles Times by Kevin Thomas

It's unfortunate and ironic that Temple risks so much so successfully in evoking an atmosphere of literary imagination as well as Coleridge's drug-induced fantasies only to conclude his film in a thud of fustian staginess.

80

L.A. Weekly by Paul Malcolm

Temple doesn't just highlight the contemporary relevance of Coleridge's liberated words and themes, he shows us how high they still soar.

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