Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.5

Performance Blu-ray Movie Review

Who's Who?

Reviewed by Michael Reuben March 29, 2014

The similarity between the artist and the criminal has been a recurring theme since at least Shakespeare's time. Both figures operate by trickery and deception, both tend to live outside social norms and both flout convention. Artists may have become more respectable today, when mass entertainment has allowed some of them to become rich and famous, but then again criminals have done the same thing, because the same era values notoriety above everything else. Mafia dons can be media stars, and convicted felons can be lionized as wolves of Wall Street.

Donald Cammell's screenplay for Performance planted this artist/criminal duality in London of the late Sixties, where he knew both the entertainment scene and the seedy underworld of "the Firm" (as local organized crime was known) and its enforcers. Cammell created a story in which one of those enforcers met his doppelganger in the form of a reclusive pop star, and their identities criss-crossed in strange and inexplicable ways reminiscent of his favorite author, Argentine short story writer Jorge Luis Borges. Cammell had always envisioned Mick Jagger as the pop star, and Jagger, who wanted to explore a film career, was eager to play the part. When Marlon Brando turned down the role of the criminal, British actor James Fox stepped in.

Since Cammell had never directed a film before, he partnered with respected cinematographer Nicolas Roeg, whose unique eye for color and texture, combined with Cammell's preference for New Wave editing and immediacy, ensured that Performance wouldn't look like most films. Chance played its part as well. When Cammell, Roeg and producer Sanford Lieberson brought their cut to Warner Bros. in 1968, the studio hated it and insisted on various changes. Cammell responded with edits that gave Warner what they wanted but also made Performance more elliptical, hallucinatory and intellectually complex. The studio shelved the film for two years, then gave it a half-hearted theatrical release in 1970. It quickly became a cult classic.

Performance falls into two readily identifiable halves. The participants in the 2007 documentary "Influence and Controversy" (included in the Blu-ray extras) confirm that the first half hews more closely to Cammell's script, while the second half jettisons much of the original plot in favor of the increasingly mysterious interaction between Fox's criminal and Jagger's artist.

In the first half, we enter the world of Chas Dean (Fox), an enforcer for the Firm headed by Harry Flowers (Johnny Shannon). Sharply dressed, a ladies' man and someone who enjoys the violent side of his work too much for his own good, Chas one day finds himself at odds with his own organization. He's considered too much of a maverick, because he can't switch his "performance" as a thug on and off at will. When Chas doesn't make peace with an old rival who has agreed to join the Firm, he finds himself a target and has to go on the run.

In the film's second half, Chas takes refuge in the basement of a crumbling mansion owned by Turner (Jagger), a former star and now a mysterious recluse. Turner lives with his girlfriend, Pherber (Anita Pallenberg, in a role originally intended for Marianne Faithfull), and they are currently hosting a French gamine named Lucy (Michèle Breton), who shares their bed. Turner initially doesn't want Chas to stay, but then something about the strange man who gives his name as "Johnny" and claims to be a juggler just returned from touring Europe catches Turner's attention. According to Pherber, Turner has been searching for his "true demon", which he glimpsed in a mirror one day and then lost. Maybe Turner glimpses that demon in Chas. He certainly sees a kindred spirit when it comes to extreme behavior. "The only performance that makes it, that makes it all the way, is the one that achieves madness", Turner tells Chas, echoing the French playwright and actor Antonin Artaud (who did go mad).

The lines between reality and fantasy blur in the second half of Performance, and not just because Pherber feeds Chas a whopping dose of hallucinogenic mushrooms. The film itself abandons a straight narrative line and relies more on the juxtaposition of images, dissolves of one image into another, and reprises of images seen earlier. Cammell has already prepared the viewer for this style with the re-edit of the film's first half to satisfy Warner's concerns. That part of the story has a traditional narrative, but it is filled with jagged cuts that jump forward and backward, reminding us of what has happened and previewing what will happen next, preparing the way for the later series of edits and juxtapositions that will detach Performance entirely from narrative consistency. By the time we reach the sequence known as "Memo from Turner"—after the name of a song sung by Jagger in character as . . . well, exactly as who is a good question—identities have become so fragmented that one can no longer say for sure whose point of view defines the story. The ending of Performance is a famous head-scratcher, and as much as I'd like to talk about it more, new viewers should be allowed to experience it cold.

Performance Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Co-director Roeg served as cinematographer on Performance. His well-known ability to make apparently random clutter look delicate and beautiful has never been more in evidence. The image on Warner Archive Collection's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray is remarkable, assuming the viewer has the right expectations. Roeg uses soft, diffused light, but within that limitation he captures plenty of detail, whether in Chas's home, his criminal hangouts with Harry Flowers, or the various rooms and halls of Turner's vast mansion, with its apparently random decor, multiple mirrors and (for the time) state-of-the-art electronics. Colors range from delicate and pastel to rich and saturated; the color red is especially important in the film's design. Blacks are good enough to accurately represent the barrister's robes in the courtroom scene, and contrast is sufficient without being overstated. A fine grain pattern is evident throughout.

At a high (for Warner) average bitrate of 30.00 Mbps, Performance has been allotted sufficient bandwidth to support all of its elaborate editing and jagged cuts. Compression issues have not compromised the transfer.

Performance Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

First of all, as promised by WAC, the line "Here's to old England!", which disappeared from the cut of Performance released on the 2007 Warner DVD, has been restored to the "Memo from Turner" sequence.

Performance was released in mono, which is presented here in lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0 with identical left and right front channels. The track has excellent dynamic range, with smooth highs and deep bass extension that provides a solid bottom for "Memo from Turner" as well as for the hum of Turner's synthesizer and the rest of the musical score composed and arranged by Jack Nitzsche (An Officer and a Gentleman ). In keeping with its unusual visual editing, the soundtrack of Performance is an audio collage of voices, vehicles, glass breaking, blows being exchanged, water dripping, phones ringing and dozens of other sounds (and also, on occasion, dead silence). Some of the sound effects are part of the current scene, some belong to the previous scene and some are part of the scene to come. The effects are very clear, and generally so is the dialogue, although some lines are deliberately buried in the mix. Also, the Cockney accents can be hard for an unaccustomed American ear to interpret. If necessary, subtitles are available.

Note added on April 3, 2014: An alert reader has spotted another difference between WAC's Blu-ray and the 2007 DVD: the vocal performance by Johnny Shannon as Harry Flowers. If you play the two discs side-by-side, it is obvious that these are two distinct renderings of the same dialogue, although I couldn't say for certain which one is correct. The reader who first spotted the discrepancy maintains that Flowers on the DVD sounds "more Cockney", but to my ear neither version is so heavily Cockney as to be "authentic". An inquiry on WAC's Facebook page prompted the initial response that "[w]ith the exception of the re-insertion of 'Here's to Old England' in the Memo to Turner sequence, the audio tracks on the BD and the DVD are identical"--which is obviously not correct. However, after further consideration (and the publication of this Note), WAC announced that they were investigating the matter.

My own view is that this issue is sufficiently minor that it shouldn't affect enjoyment of the Blu-ray, except for long-time fans who know every syllable by heart. More than most films since the silent era, Performance depends primarily on its visuals. But prospective purchasers should be aware of the issue.

Performance Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Influence and Controversy (480i; 1.78:1, enhanced; 24:49): This 2007 documentary features interviews with producer Sanford Lieberson, co-editor Frank Mazzola and co-star Anita Pallenberg, among many others. It traces the history of Performance from its inception through the terrible reception of the initial version by Warner Bros. and the process of recutting it that led to the release version.



• Memo from Turner (480i; 1.78:1, enhanced; 4:54): This is a promotional short highlighting (and wildly overstating the scope of) Mick Jagger's participation in Performance. If you're at all familiar with the film, the piece is good for laughs.



• Theatrical Trailer (480i; 1.78:1, enhanced; 2:45): If you can get past the sober voice of the narrator, who sounds like he is describing a horror film, the trailer does as good a job as it can of capturing the film's unique sensibility.

Performance Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I remember sitting in a theater watching Performance when it was first released, realizing that the imagery was too rich to grasp in one sitting and knowing that I would have to revisit it more than once. Every time I've watched the film since then, I see new things, but even now I couldn't say definitively what happens, because the narrative drops in and out of realism in ways that are deliberately left open to interpretation. Performance is a cinematic experience. Much more than any popcorn movie, it's a ride you simply have to take, but this is one where you don't dare turn off your brain, even for a second. WAC has given it a superior treatment on Blu-ray, which is highly recommended.