The elements

The primal elements (fire, water, earth, air) crop up regularly in Russell films. Like painting in primary colours, the elements allow powerful images. Objects suddenly burst into flame. A favourite image by Ken is of the reflection of sun on water. Waterfalls are almost always used for sex. He also uses locations around the lake district. Kites in the air often appear.

In Tommy, while singing I'm Free, Daltry runs through fields, over and then under water, through fire and in the air.

Fire

Things catch fire in Russell films. Most dramatic is the start of Mahler with the hut exploding, but Dante's Inferno also begins with Oliver Reed jumping over fire. In Tommy and Gothic the flames test the characters. The end of Don't Shoot the Composer has the piano in flames.

.

Water

For someone who lived in the Lake District it was inevitable that water would play a large role in films. But as well as providing dramatic backgrounds, water provides Russell with imagery. Death by drowning features in The Music Lovers, Women in Love, Isadora and Gothic, and even baths are images, with Tchaikovsky, Bruckner, Tommy all tortured in a bath.

Air

Russell had to fight to be allowed to show Elgar flying a kite, but he would later use the image in Martinu and Mindbender (the kite bursting into flame). Tommy of course has Daltry flying through the air, and the Rainbow is the symbol of hope for the heroine.

Earth

Russell both digs into the earth, with both Gaudier and Elton John writing messages into the earth, and goes under, with caves appearing in many films from Altered States and Mahler to Lair and Vaughan Williams.

The following films feature the elements: