Performance

This ultimate cult film remains one of the most subversive and experimental creations ever produced by a major studio (Warner Brothers) during the pivotal transition from the sixties to the seventies. Most notorious was its orgiastic mix of sex, violence, and drugs. But its fragmented visuals, labyrinthine narrative structure, and the fact that co-director Nicolas Roeg (who operated the camera himself) couldn't keep his hands off the zoom lens also sparked fierce reactions. A London gangster (James Fox) goes on the run from both the mob and the police. He believes he's found the perfect hideout in the basement of a Notting Hill townhouse—only to be completely drawn into the psychedelic world of his landlord: Turner (Mick Jagger), a reclusive pop star who shares both bed and bath with two groupies (Anita Pallenberg and Michele Breton) in a ménage à trois. Dream and reality begin to blur, and the lines between male and female dissolve just as easily.