Salome's Last Dance

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Salome's Last Dance is a 1988 film by British film director, Ken Russell. Although most of the action is a verbatim performance of Oscar Wilde's 1893 play Salome, which is itself based on a story from the New Testament, there is also a framing narrative written by Russell himself. Wilde (Nickolas Grace) and his lover Lord Alfred Douglas (Douglas Hodge) arrive late on Guy Fawkes Day at their friend's brothel, where they are treated to a surprise staging of Wilde's play, public performances of which has just been banned in England by the Lord Chamberlain's office.

In the play, all the roles are played by prostitues or their clients, and each actor (except Grace) plays two roles, one in the brothel and the other in the play. King Herod (Stratford Johns) begs his young stepdaughter Salome (Imogen Millais-Scott) to dance for him, promising to give her anything she desires, much to the irritation of her mother, Herodias (Glenda Jackson). Salome ignores him, choosing instead to try and seduce (Saint) John the Baptist, who is Herod's prisoner. John responds by loudly condemning both Herod and Salome in the name of God. A spurned and vengeful Salome then agrees to dance for Herod--on the condition that she give him the head of John the Baptist on a platter. The scenes from the play are interwoven with images of Wilde's exploits at the brothel.

Although Russell's most of Russell's previous movies had been attacked by critics, this one met with modest critical acclaim. The review in the New York Times called it "a perfumed, comic stunt," but noted that "Mr. Russell forces one to attend to (and to discover the odd glory in) the Wilde language, which, on the printed page, works faster than valium." [link]

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