Friendship's Death (1987) User Reviews

very odd film,makes you think but pleased with itself.

[ib011f9545i · 7/10 · 23 June 2021]

I saw this on tv many years ago,I might have seen it at the cinema.

The British Film Institute,who backed the film,have released it on blu ray.

I just watched the blu ray.

I give no plot spolilers.

A dialogue heavy film with 2 actors in every scene.

This film is a real nostalgia piece for me.

In the 1980s I spent many hours in the Filmhouse Edinburgh which was/is the art house cinema for the city.

I saw all sort of BFI sponsored films with strange plots and locations and scripts.

Like in a film I was fascinated by a young women who seemed to be at all the films I went to back then.

I wonder was she a film professional,a critic,was she Tilda Swinton one of the stars of this film.

One oddity of the film,there are many,is that Swinton is listed as the star but Bill Patterson was much better known than she was then.

Unique film, for better and worse

[roblloyds · 7/10 · 21 November 2021]

I bought the BFI rerelease Blu-ray (which apparently came out earlier this year) yesterday not knowing much about the movie other than it being one of Tilda Swinton's earliest roles and the cover looked suitably sci-fi. What I got was something else entirely.

The blurb describes Tilda Swinton's character Friendship as "an extraterrestrial... on a peace mission to Earth" who accidentally lands in war-torn Jordan in 1970 before meeting a Scottish war correspondent called Sullivan. I assumed then that it would begin with the two of them meeting for the first time and go from there but this doesn't happen. They have already met and are friends when the movie starts. This was the first sign I was in for a different kind of story than I bargained for.

If I had to describe what this film feels like, I'd say it feels like watching a stage play with one set. There's little in the way of immediate action or an overarching story to speak of, it's mainly Friendship and Sullivan talking to each other in their respective hotel rooms as we move through the month of September. Friendship talks about the things they've seen since arriving on Earth and world weary Sullivan talks about human nature. This is presented in a way similar to a historical documentary with very slight story elements scattered here and there. We will have a scene where the two talk while gunfire erupts outside and then it'll fade to black and the next scene in a different part of the hotel room will begin. This film puts a lot onto the shoulders of the actors to carry it through and thankfully they deliver.

At least Tilda Swinton does, she makes you believe in what she's saying and that she's from another world. Bill Paterson feels like he's reading from the script while he's performing. His performance consists of him drinking Whiskey, talking about territory and being somewhat interested in Friendships background.

There's a scene later on in the movie that has a peculiar payoff where Sullivan steals some of Friendships translator equipment (which are in the shape of long hexagon cylinders) and they begin to emit noise while he's trying to sleep. He gets Friendship and admits he took them, and Friendship gives one to him to keep as a gift. Later on, Sullivan's daughter at home takes Friendships translator device and has it translated to videotape (somehow. I'm not sure. It was just a solid red cylinder before. Who did she take it to?) and we see what Friendship's impression of Earth was in the end, which is quite vague.

I can't lie and say that I was totally invested watching this film, as often it felt like people talking without any purpose, but it is unique and carried by a great performance by Tilda Swinton. It's an interesting movie, and has a weird place now on my shelf.

The new savior of humanity

[Anna_Brassky · 7/10 · 14 June 2023]

1970. During the conflict between Jordan and Palestine, a girl appears right in the middle of the battle. She gets rescued by a British journalist who writes about the events there. The girl's name is Friendship, and she reveals that she is an android who was sent to Earth by the extraterrestrial machine civilization to help humans survive as a biological species. She was supposed to land near some scientific institution in USA, but ended up in Jordan by mistake. So, she learns about the humanity through the events happening around her and through conversations with the journalist, and is really surprised to find out that humans are so reckless about the gift of life which they don't seem to appreciate at all.

The movie is very very low budget. The whole story takes place within one room of a Jordanian hotel. The cast is only 5 people, two of whom are main characters, and 3 remaining ones are extras whose faces we can't even see.

So what is so special about this movie? Friendship is played by Tilda. Tilda Swinton. She is very young here, only 27. She would rise to international fame only in her forties. But God, how amazingly beautiful she is there! The way she carries herself! How reserved and aristocratic her movements are! So you are likely to just admire her during the whole movie, believe-my-word.

Her outfits which she changes every 5 minutes deserve special attention. These are the costumes of different cultures and different ethnic groups. And it seems that she gets the taste of humanity by wearing every new costume.

We won't see her death, just hear about it. The journalist manages to get her the UK visa to leave with him, but she decides to stay in Jordan because she's more needed there while the world is not yet ready to accept the new reality she offers. And even in her death, she finds the way to make someone happy by letting them use her passport. The ultimate act of sacrifice.

So, is it friendship. Not love, that is destined to save our world? Perhaps, there is something in this.

i kind of enjoy it

[torchiam-192-639252 · 6/10 · 12 November 2021]

It is not a very strong story.no fancy visual effects, no big actions, no big story line conflicts.

The conversations are not that intriguing by today standard since the movie was made almost 40 years ago.

But, but, i just love to watch Tilda Swinton's performance. Such a unique actress, beautiful, charming, great acting.

Nice idea, but mostly banal

[GwydionMW · 6/10 · 27 July 2021]

I suppose the people involved felt too superior to talk to some SF writers or SF fans and not make howlers in their science.

Procyon is a star, not a galaxy. People in the USA seem to keep confusing stars and galaxies, even in some SF series like The Invaders.

It is also not explained how they have the latest news of Earth, being more than 11 light-years away.

And a nuclear winter would kill most people but not everyone. The classic book On The Beach correctly has that as done by Cobalt Bombs, as does Doctor Strangelove.

Since Friendship could easily prove her non-human nature, and even drinks impossible amounts of alcohol to prove it, why not contact the US Embassy and be taken to MIT or the UN?

It is absurd to think that she would be mistreated. She represents an entire alien civilisation with superior technology.

All the talk about Palestinians and Israel misses the basic point - a widespread Jewish view that the whole land should be Jewish. Plus a failure by Palestinians to agree to something like the Oslo Agreement when they still have the Soviet Union there to balance the USA.

There area few comic remarks about machines. But on wider matters, the dialogue is banal, saying nothing new.

Quirky SF gem gently explores the robot's point of view.

[marcdonner · 8/10 · 16 July 2004]

Set in Amman, Jordan during Black September, when the PLO attempted to take over the kingdom by force, this odd little movie features an ongoing dialog between a British journalist and an android in the form of an attractive woman. She's the survivor of a contact mission to Earth. The political dimension of their dialog largely falls flat, but the ideas about robots that the movie explores are fascinating. Look for the discussion of the typewriter - she complains that his pounding of the keys was 'hurting it' and of the vacuum cleaner, which she likens to a rat.

Kinejin: Required viewing for early Tilda Swinton

[kinejin · 5/10 · 30 August 2021]

Odd mix of quasi-science fiction with "My Dinner with Andre", plenty of inane babble which is rarely inspired or inspiring, utilizing a "Year of Living Dangerously" theme. Very stagy, with some intriguing shots, but very static and dry. Seeing a young Tilda Swinton -- fresh from theatre -- is the film's main attribute.

Science FICTION

[nuamele-53182 · 9/10 · 2 December 2021]

What I love about SF is the focus on the question: What is a human?

This question does not each sifi-movie ask. But this one does. For today it may be a bit boring, because there is not much new in the dialogue. This didnt bother me at all, because I like repeat. You can hear one sentence from 100 people and you get 100 sentences, because they said it diffrently. It is intresting what they say in the movie but it is mostly intresting how they say it and who. Tilda Swinton makes an atmosphere that drinks you in this hotelroom, where the conversation is placed.

I just saw it. And tomorrow I want to watch it again.

Love for sober Sci-Fi

[sergicaballeroalsina · 8/10 · 16 November 2022]

There is a kind of subtle trilogy of cult classics and subtle fantasy; Man facing Southeast (1986) The Man from Earth (2007) and Fiendship's Death (1987) I have to confess that I've seen them recently and I loved them very much because of what they have in common: the way in which the movie deals with that which has about science fiction. They base their speech on the dialogues and avoid making use of any super-special-effect to reinforce the plot, the meaning itself. They do not pretend that the story needs more technology than the mere word. All the aesthetics, the first and main sense of the film, rests solely on the story explained by the main character. This protagonist has a message for us and wants to make us think. It's a common premise in all three films and, frankly, it works. Even so, these films do not forget style and are elegant because of their restrained form. I celebrate that they don't want to embarrass me with empty spectacularity and that the magic holds on the words.

Remarkably ahead of it's time, sci-fi.

[william-elsley · 8/10 · 22 April 2024]

This film is now an incredible film to watch with so much hi ndsight it talks of AI and the problems of the Palestinian people, it has once again become relevant but probably not a socially acceptable film. I saw this when it came out and enjoyed the performance of an alien viewing Earth as a highly developed humanoid robot, that is appalled at our lack of compassion. The story now once again is relevant and there are surprising echoes of modern issues in it's dated story. I recommend this film and dare you to feel unmoved by what you see now of a problem we still see in the middle east today.