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Broken English is an intimate, inventive and deeply personal portrait of Marianne Faithfull — the legendary singer, songwriter, actor and cultural icon whose extraordinary career spanned more than six decades.

From her emergence as a teenage star in 1960s London to her transformation into one of music’s most distinctive and enduring voices, Faithfull lived a life marked by extraordinary highs, devastating lows and constant reinvention. Discovered as a teenager and propelled to fame with her early hit As Tears Go By, she became an emblem of the Swinging Sixties and a figure of fascination for the press. But behind the glamour was a complicated story of love, heartbreak, addiction, illness and relentless public scrutiny.

Rather than following the conventions of a traditional music documentary, directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard create a dreamlike, genre-defying journey through Faithfull’s memories, myths and creative legacy. At the centre of the film is the fictional Ministry of Not Forgetting, an imaginative institution where Faithfull is interviewed by George MacKay under the watchful eye of Tilda Swinton. Within this strange and playful setting, the boundaries between memory, performance and reality begin to blur.

Through archival footage, photographs, interviews and intimate reflections from Faithfull herself, the film revisits the many chapters of her remarkable life. Her rise to fame, turbulent relationships, struggles with addiction and periods of homelessness and ill health are explored alongside the artistic resilience that allowed her to continually reinvent herself. Her acclaimed 1979 album Broken English marked a dramatic creative rebirth, establishing a raw, powerful new voice and beginning another chapter in a career that would continue to evolve for decades.

The film also celebrates Faithfull's enduring influence on generations of musicians and artists. Contributions from figures including Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Courtney Love, Beth Orton and others add new perspectives to her story, while musical performances and responses echo the songs and ideas that defined her work.

Made with Faithfull's full involvement, Broken English is ultimately more than a portrait of a rock star. It is a meditation on memory, identity, creativity and survival — and on the complicated process of reclaiming one's own story after a lifetime of being defined by others.

Faithfull died in January 2025 while the film was still in production, giving the finished work an unexpected poignancy. Her final recorded performance, a rendition of Misunderstanding accompanied by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, becomes a particularly moving part of this celebration of her life and work.

Bold, unconventional and fiercely honest, Broken English captures Marianne Faithfull on her own terms: rebellious, funny, candid, uncompromising and endlessly creative. It stands as both a celebration of an extraordinary artistic life and a final act of remembrance for a woman who spent more than sixty years refusing to be confined by anyone else's expectations.

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