The first trailer for the Marianne Faithfull docudrama Broken English has been released, featuring archive footage and new interviews with the late singer, who died in January 2025 at age 78. The film, directed by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, includes fictional characters played by Tilda Swinton and George MacKay.
Swinton portrays the Overseer of the Ministry of Not Forgetting, who makes Faithfull her research project, while MacKay plays her Record Keeper, tasked with cataloguing the singer's career. In the trailer, Swinton declares: “A career spanning six decades, 30 albums, and yet to the world she’s still just Mick Jagger’s ex-girlfriend. Well, fuck that.”
Faithfull discusses her struggles in the industry, including writing The Rolling Stones’ single ‘Sister Morphine’ alongside Jagger and Keith Richards. “I knew I was writing something very special, but the woman who wrote it wasn’t allowed to sing it… It hurts,” she says, before adding, “I tried to commit suicide.”
The film, named after Faithfull’s 1979 comeback album, includes her final singing performance with Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, and features interviews with John Dunbar, Edith Bowman, Sophie Fiennes, Barry Reynolds, Courtney Love, Jehnny Beth, Suki Waterhouse and Beth Orton.
Broken English premiered at the Venice Film Festival in August 2024 and received a four-star review from NME, which called it “a beautiful celebration”. It will be released in UK cinemas on March 20, with a sold-out preview and live concert at the Barbican Centre in London on March 18 featuring Jarvis Cocker, Rufus Wainwright, Anna Calvi and others.
