Geraldine Flower certainly wasn’t famous in her lifetime (she was born in Australia, worked for the Daily Telegraph in London for a time and travelled extensively) but, when she died in 2019 (aged 72), her daughter discovered a suitcase in her London flat packed with hundreds of love letters written to her by the adoring men in her life during the 1960s and 70s. She was apparently known for her independent spirit and adventurous lifestyle(!).
The letters inspired a 2024 album by Icelandic singer-songwriter Emilíana Torrini (a singer I first came across in 2008) and, in turn, resulted in this intriguing documentary film/studio performance. I found the whole project absolutely enthralling – reminders of a woman’s colourful life and complex relationships (viewed from her lovers’ perspectives!) dramatised in part through film (Caroline Catz features as Miss Flower… and with the likes of Nick Cave and Richard Ayoade reading out some of the letters) and live studio performances (including some dance) of Torrini’s songs. Inevitably, there will be some who would have liked there to have been more songs featured in the film and, perhaps more likely, some who were desperate to hear more extracts from the letters. In the event, I think they got the balance about right.
It’s an evocative exploration of Geraldine Flower’s life and I found it really rather lovely. I think she would have found her suitcase of letters spawning a film and an album of songs absolutely hilarious!
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