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Amos Lassen wrote on 04/04/2011:

Ludwig Wittgenstein was a Viennese born, Cambridge educated philosopher whose main interest was the nature and limits of language. “Wittgenstein” by Derek Jarman is a series of sketches that show the unfolding of his life from childhood through World War I to his professorship at Cambridge and his associations with Bertrand Russell and John Maynard Keynes. The emphasis is on the exposition of his ideas and that he was homosexual and displayed intuition, pride and perfectionism in thought. He was generally regarded as a genius. Wittgenstein is one of the most fascinating men of ideas to ever have lived. He anticipated the core ideas about logic and language that are regarded today. However he did not have much influence and his ideas were later reinvented by independent means because his explications were so abstruse.
Wittgenstein also led a remarkable life. He had money and he gave money away. Philosophically he was universally celebrated even though he was not understood. He went from academia of the university to degradation several times.
However, Jarman does not deal with the facts of Wittgenstein’s life and instead gives a more personal deconstruction of the man. We get Wittgenstein as a contemptuous, arrogant, petty loner who was apt to berate those who could not understand his philosophies. The film is bold and as can be anticipated, the visuals are gorgeous and it is innovative and impressive. The film shows a talent for creating an outrageous atmosphere in a restrained setting. Jarman pushes Wittgenstein’s homosexuality and almost avoids the man’s work and the film becomes more erotic than philosophical.