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When it comes to documentaries, no one is bending the art form quite like Jane Pollard and Ian Forsyth.
From their innovative portrait of Nick Cave in 20,000 Days on Earth, to theirs and Icelandic singer-songwriter Emilíana Torrini's musical articulation of lost letters in The Extraordinary Miss Flowers, now Marianne Faithfull takes centre stage in Broken English, a captivating exploration of the iconic singer against the fictitious backdrop of the ‘Ministry of Not Forgetting’.
Tilda Swinton, George MacKay, Zawe Ashton and Sophia Di Martino appear as the overseer and her employees, respectively, of this Brazil-esque organisation. Their purpose: to research, investigate and interview Faithfull as they venture into archive footage, photos, newspaper clippings, her back catalogue and her memory.
It's a playfully meta manifestation of the documentary process as these ministry workers brainstorm and interrogate how best to represent the ebbs and flows of Faithfull's six decades in the music industry: from teen sensation to tabloid fodder, and reinvention across stage and screen.
No one is bending the art form quite like Jane Pollard and Ian Forsyth
Faithfull is often presented with these historical recordings of her younger self, and the camera captures her unvarnished reactions in close-up to both amusing and heartfelt effect. Her charming back-and-forths with MacKay’s interviewer also add raw texture to the contrived proceedings.
Particular attention is paid to the misogyny Faithfull experienced and how, for many years and for many people, the outspoken feminist was mostly known as Mick Jagger's girlfriend rather than an intriguing artist in her own right. In a nice break from the typical talking head trope, broadcaster Edith Bowman hosts a roundtable of female actors, musicians and intellectuals to discuss the gender politics that hindered her legacy, but how she ultimately came back from drug addiction and depression to release critically acclaimed music – including the album that the film borrows its name from.
There's a cerebral quality to Rob Ellis and Adrian Utley's score that adds a thematic layer. The ambient rock composition sounds like neurons transmitting thought, memory and learning via brain synapses. Its mesmerising effect is bolstered by hauntingly beautiful performances of Faithfull's music by Beth Orton, Courtney Love, Nick Cave and Suki Waterhouse woven into the narrative.
They're not always clean-cut renditions; Beth Orton offers some reflection before performing ‘As Tears Go By’, while Courtney Love, full of grit, sings the lyrics of ‘Times Square’ from a piece of paper, ending with a palpable arrangement of ‘Misunderstanding’, from Faithfull's 2018 album Negative Capability, her last performance before her death, accompanied by Cave and Ellis.
Broken English is a musical portrait that is keenly aware of its own artifice, with Pollard and Forsyth showing the seams of creation so that the truth of who Faithfull was and her diverse legacy can resonate with audiences now that she is gone.
In UK and Ireland cinemas on March 20, 2026.