Marianne Faithfull’s final performance anchors Broken English

When Marianne Faithfull died early in 2025 at 78, she left one last musical statement: a husky-voiced number at the end of the new film Broken English, accompanied by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. The scene is described by the filmmakers as deeply moving and is likely to leave many viewers in tears.

Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard had only three days with Faithfull on a set at Elstree; she was living in a care home and needed oxygen intermittently, so they worked quickly. The film frames her life through a fictional analogue archive called The Ministry of Not Forgetting, with Tilda Swinton leading a research team and George MacKay playing a researcher who confronts artefacts from Faithfull’s career.

Broken English avoids recycling 1960s rock mythology and instead traces more than 30 albums, a long list of collaborators, a Grammy nomination for the album Broken English and the French Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres, alongside her survival of addiction, overdoses and cancer.

marianne faithfull, broken english, nick cave, warren ellis, tilda swinton, george mackay, iain forsyth, jane pollard, elstree, grammy nomination