Broken English

Faithfull to her own story
Rising to fame in the 1960s, Faithfull lived at the heart of the rock world’s turbulence and built a career spanning decades as a singer, songwriter and actress. Broken English, however, does not simply catalogue achievements or scandals. It digs deeper and asks: what remains of a person when, for decades, their public image has tried to tell their story for them?

Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard approach Faithfull in a way that departs from the typical music documentary. The film is framed by the fictional Ministry of Not Forgetting, whose archives feature Tilda Swinton, Nick Cave, Beth Orton and Thurston Moore, among others, reflecting on Faithfull’s life and legacy.

At the centre is Faithfull herself, ready to tell her own story. The film reshapes the image of her as merely “Mick Jagger’s woman” and brings her long and distinctive career to the fore. Faithfull died in January 2025, while Broken English was still in production. In the process, the film also became a farewell to an artist who left behind the story of her life, told in her own words.