Director Julien Temple previously made the cult hits The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle and The Filth and the Fury, two films which examine The Sex Pistols. Pandaemonium continues his fascination with swaggering anti-establishment figures. Predictably, he ignores the mechanics of 18th-century poetry and instead focuses on the stimuli of great art. Screenplay writer Frank Cottrell Boyce (Hilary and Jackie and 24 Hour Party People), is clearly enthralled by the inter-personal and political powder-keg which two men ignited with their remarkable work, and it is that crucial relationship which imbues the film with its compelling sense of urgency.

Virginia Woolf described Coleridge as "a swarm, a cloud, a buzz of words, darting this way and that, clustering, quivering and hanging suspended". Temple seizes this idea as his directorial template: the film crackles with imagination, colour, audacious dialogue and bravado. This sense of ebullience serves two purposes. Firstly, it captures Coleridge's passion for poetry and life. And cinematically, it ensures that the film never lapses into a straight-forward, chapter and verse chronicle of poetic lives.

Oscar-nominee Samantha Morton is quietly effective as Sara and Linus Roache attacks the role of Coleridge with gusto, delivering a highly enjoyable performance which in truth steals the show.

Gavin Collinson