What exactly happens? What was the thing that Turner was trying to do? Was he into some weird belief? How did he switch places with Chas?
It was confusing for me but somehow, I still think it's a pretty good movie. Still, can someone help me out here?
I think it was implied that Chas and Turner morphed into one.
shareI don't think they literally merged but I do they think they symbolically merged. I think that Chas shot himself and Turner took the wig and decided to go with the gangsters.
There's a line that's repeated and stressed a couple of times, popping up first in the court room scenes in the beginning --- something to the effect of "It's not a takeover, it's a merger". Borges, identity crises, possible voodoo rituals to steal/separate Chas' soul, murder and suicide and what we ultimately know about Cammell, them in fact finding Turner's body at the end - all seems to point indeed to a literal merger. Or it's symbolic, but where do symbolism and narrative dovetail on film? And if you watch the film with that in mind, it adds up. Or it doesn't. But that's not ALL it is. There's a lot going on. Maybe. The various readings and interpretations of this movie are many and probably all have some validity.
shareWell if all the interpretations are valid then equally none of them are. The only thing that matters is if there was an intended message or not and if so what was that message. If there is no message or no idea then it's just pretentious cowardice... Bravery and the courage to nail your colours to an idea rather than letting the viewer do all the work themselves. That's what I prefer.
share"Valid" is not the same as "correct," and this is a film that provides no easy answers. As for me, I prefer a film that allows me to draw my own conclusions rather than one that explains it all for me. This is not "cowardice" on the part of the filmmaker; it is tolerance, the realization that the viewer may have more answers than he does.
shareMost literally, Chas shot Turner. We clearly see a dead Turner. The shot of Chas in the car at the very end is played by Mick Jagger. I think at this point Roeg is symbolic. There was no literal merger, but Chas has taken on characteristics he has learned from Turner and the girls. Chas's transformation is symbolically shown in this shot.
Jagger reads: "Nothing is true, Everything is permissible," an apt quote to describe this film. I think it comes from Hassan I Sabbah.
Dictated, but not read.
I tend to agree with you; and I have no problem with this ending... a bit grim, perhaps, and I have no problems with the myriad of speculative hypotheses regarding the denouement of this great film, but I am surely disappointed in myself that as someone who considers himself a true movie lover, it took me much of my adult life (I'm 49 long years old) to finally watch this seminal film... surreal, otherworldly, and timeless...
Right. Well, I have to-- I have to go now, Duane, because I, I'm due back on the planet Earth.
This was my impression as well. The one thing I don't understand, though, is why he would have shot Turner. Also, why would Pherber put his body in a closet and skulk away like that?
shareIt is a literal merger. Turner enters Chaz with a bullet. This is the Borgesian moment. Magical realism, where a natural setting is suddenly infused with the fantastic and paranormal.
Brilliant and unsettling.
The bullet you will notice went through the head of the man in the picture on the wall who was the same man on the front cover of the book both Jagger and one of the henchmen were reading - a real life writer who Donald Cammell was influenced by - as in the extras when he shot through the head in the picture Cammell was symbolically entering the writer's head.
shareThe film is filled with frames -- literally and figuratively.
Empty mirrors, empty stages (the pic Chaz takes out of the basement room), empty painting frames (in the basement closet where Turner is ultimately found.) Harry Flowers hangs a painting of himself as an equestrian on his wall (despite his East End roots, this is how he perceives himself -- as one of the landed gentry.) Turner solicits the work of artists (the twins), but he doesn't like the content/story so he simply says: I'll keep the frame. Pherber says: You know he never buys anything.
During Memo From Turner -- when Turner 'sees' into Chaz's head -- Turner (who has surplanted Harry in the performance of the song) pushes the painting of Harry Flowers aside, reveals the mirror and then smashes it. This same shattering reappears when we follow the bullet into Turner's brain.
The point: we're all frames -- what we put in them is a performance (ganster, rock star, barrister -- it don't matter). We are in search of 'who we are' (an oft repeated line: I know who I am.) Sometimes we fill the frame with self-discovery, sometimes with a selection of others' traits and personalities; sometimes with our own ideals.
Turner has 'lost his demon'. Death is the one remaining performance that will achieve madness. The performance that Turner wants to frame.
Who do you really see when you look in the glass? Turner, Harry or Chaz? Is there a difference? Does it matter.
Chaz shoots and kills Turner. When the thugs come to take him away at the end, they don't seem to notice that Chaz now looks exactly like Turner.
shareReferences to Borges frequently pop up in relation to this film but he is a secondary source. Hassan I Sabbah is a more accurate pointer, Borges drew heavily on Sufist thought and literature, and much of that is written in allegorical terms. Many of the keynote scenes are visual allegory.
shareNeed a little professional help with this one? I found this review by Pablo Vargas helpful.
"At one point in the film, Turner quotes Hassan I Sabbah’s phrase “Nothing is true, everything is permitted" which illustrates everything that is fascinating and unnerving about Performance. The conclusion of the film is also left open to many interpretations and will either make you a devoted fan with its implications or will make you angry with disgust which is another reason why this film has divided so many critics and audiences. Regardless whether you are a fan or not, Performance has built a massive cult following and has ranked #48 on the British Film Institute's list of the hundred greatest British films. To me, even by today’s standards the film is a challenging, exciting and wild cinematic experience worth watching over and over again but if you prefer your films spoon-fed, then skip the headache and enlighten yourself with The Dukes of Hazzard instead."
Reviewer: Pablo Vargas
I simply thought that Chaz was on the way to his own death, he knew it. It was all too obvious and Turner said that he wanted to go with him, therefore Chaz shot him so as to take Turner with him. I.E. they both die. And the reason we see Turner in the car is to establish their unity/merger.
You know what the Queen said? If I had balls, I'd be King.
Also, I love how both halves of the movie play out like almost separate movies but still merge so easily into one consistent piece of art. 1st half like a slick gangster flick, the second half is a more experimental psychedelic exposition of the themes of self and unity. Further teastament to the whole merging aspect of the film.
You know what the Queen said? If I had balls, I'd be King.
Hey, I quite liked the Dukes remake...
Right. Well, I have to-- I have to go now, Duane, because I, I'm due back on the planet Earth.
Who am I?" How much of "me" is performance, and how much my true self? "Can I really merge my identity completely with another's?" The "who am I, truly?" is the exploration of the film...
It occured to me that right before Chas shot Joey Maddocks he said something like: "I'm a bullet". And when we see the bullet flying through Turner's head at the end, it was like Chas diving into him, becoming him (Turner). Despite I like the movie, I think the ending slightly ruined it. After all, what we got is psychodelic fantasy, mixed with Borges, Yung, swinging London and gangster elements.
Btw, who is the actress at the beginning of the film, the one Chas has violent sex with, slapping her? She is so friggin' hot!