Derek Jarman dashed off this intellectual jape celebrating the life of Austrian-born philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein in just two weeks at a cost of less than 300,000 pounds. Originally commissioned as part of a Channel 4 season on famous philosophers, it is yet another step in Jarman's highly personal grand tour through the mausoleum of European High Culture. Running parallel with the intellectual stuff is an exploration of Wittgenstein's repressed homosexuality. Visually stunning with great costumes by Sandy Powell (an award-winner for Jarman's Edward II), the film has frequent flashes of dry and self-effacing humour. Michael Gough, Tilda Swinton and John Quentin get the meatiest parts and seize eagerly on them.

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