Control is the story of Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis. It chronicles his life from the end of high school until his suicide at age 23. The film is based on the memoir “Touching from a Distance” by his wife Debbie.
Control portrays Ian Curtis as a depressed, confused and perpetually tormented young man on the verge of international success. The eccentric singer is portrayed by Sam Riley, who besides bearing an uncanny physical resemblance to Curtis, plays the role with dignity and subtlety. Unfortunately, the sketch of the artist is, well, very sketchy. Perhaps it’s because the film is written from his wife’s point of view. Perhaps it’s because Ian Curtis was such a mystery to everyone in his life, and because he died so young that it feels like the film didn’t give me a chance to get to know him much better.
The acting is good. The directing is good. But overall the film just seems like a disappointing reminder of how little we’ll ever know about Ian Curtis and what inspired him both in life and death.
The film definitely offers a vivid portrayal of how conflicted the singer was about his romantic relationships-unable to make a decision between the wife that he married to young and the mistress that he met on tour. The film reminds us that no one really got a chance to know Curtis because he had barely begun to figure out who he was himself.
The film is very sketchy in describing any details about how the band came together, or why Curtis and his bandmates felt compelled to create music in the first place. There are some brief shots of Curtis in his bedroom dressing up like David Bowie and dancing around in glam-wear, but that’s as far as the film goes regarding what inspired Curtis and his collaborators.
As a fan of Joy Division’s music, I was also hoping that the film might give some sort of insight into what inspired Curtis’ lyrics and eccentric performance style. Perhaps, though, it’s something that is never meant to be known?
The one issue that the film does give some attention to is Curtis’ struggle with late-onset epilepsy. We see Curtis being prescribed boatloads of pills and being told that there is little that can be done to cure his condition. There is some confusing information, though, about how his illness came about. It seems like there are some rushed attempts to connect Curtis’ feelings about his illness to his feelings about another women he knew who suffered from epilepsy, but the scene is confusing and seems forced into the script somehow.
It’s probably unfair of me to expect to get some sort of real insight into who Ian Curtis really was from a movie. Control was made nearly thirty years after Curtis died and mostly involved people that never met him. Perhaps it’s because the film is based on Curtis’ life from his wife’s point of view that it leaves the audience feeling so distanced from him-or perhaps that was the entire point of the film in the first place. I guess that I hoped that the film would at least make some statements or speculations as to who Ian Curtis was.
Control has a running time of 122 minutes and is rated R for language and sexuality. It is available on DVD at most major movie rental outlets.
Sources:
IMDB:
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0421082/
Reference:
- Internet Movie Database: us.imdb.com/title/tt0421082/
