Along with Richard Feynmann, Ken Russell was one of two men I know of, who were considered as Enfant Terrible's in their 60's. Certainly in the UK, any reporting about him during the 80's always had a "what crazy thing is he going to do next?" vibe about it. But the guy was a genuine talent, and his string of movies, starting with Women in Love, and ending with Altered States is a solid and daring body of work. Furthermore, having proven he was capable of shooting tent-pole type movies with Billion Dollar Brain, he decided to take a different path. While other directors have had their moments (eg. Nick Roegs' Don't Look Back), Ken Russell consistently exposed true sexuality on screen, in all it's forms, from the naked Alan Bates/Oliver Reed wrestling scene and a naked Glenda Jackson in Women in Love, to Theresa Russell's streetwalker in Whore. It's no coincidence, imho, that Russell's heyday was during the 70's, when he could take advantage of studio's trust for auteurs to make intelligent films that explored his passion for classical music and ballet. In today's environment of focus groups and executive driven production, movies like Mahler or Lisztomania would never be made. When all is said and done, even thought he sometimes overreached to the point of gratuitousness, Russell pushed and crossed boundaries more forcefully and with more determination than almost anyone else. In movie terms, that counts as courage, and he had more of it than almost all his contemporaries.

Courageous indeed, Pliny. After reading Russell passed, I came across notion David Foster Wallace shared in a commencement speech, fish don't grok the water they're in, and it struck me Russell not only wants to grok the water, he fully embraces it. He'd be the one peering at the sun in Plato's cave. Russell added to the dialogue, what film is, what it can do. Easy to understand why Fellini shared with Russell, paraphrased, "I'm the Italian Ken Russell". And big influence (Black Swan comes to mind as example, without Russell might well have been differently conceived). And love was supreme in Altered States, how fun was that (final moment here).

Don't get me wrong, I think a lot of Russell's work is self-indulgent to some degree (what's that Blake line from Bull Durham? "The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom."), and sometimes downright unwatchable. But you're right, there's a lot of Fellini in Russell's work. otoh, Fellini was guilty of many of the same cinematic sins as Russell and was never criticized anywhere near as much as him. That always struck me as being unfair, and was probably a result of Fellini working outside the Hollywood/Elstree/Pinewood system.

[...] R.I.P.: Ken Russell (1927-2011) (gointothestory.blcklst.com) [...]

Agreed on self-indulgent, Fellini and Gilliam too, also Aronofsky with Black Swan, and even cubism (initially rejected from galleries, even term "cubism" derisively coined by Matisse and an art critic). That cubism embraced within 5 years or so and now stands as symbol for lots of things, that was a fruitful conversation that began between two artists. I'm definitely more partial to lighter artist hands, but grateful for artists who have fun and push boundaries. I'm very curious about Wholly Family. Looks like a particularly good fit for Gilliam, might be an ideal story for him to have told.