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“ian, talk to me! don’t ignore me!”
When I think back years later on the movie Control (2007), Samantha Morton's words are still as clear as they were just heard yesterday. And the heart-rending screams she finds at the end of the film that Ian committed suicide, the suppressed green smoke struggling in the wind, and the "atmosphere" of the joy division that rings out at the right time are images that will linger no matter what. And I'm not even very interested in post-punk.
▲ "Control" poster
Of course, that doesn't really matter, because at the end of the day, Control goes beyond the blunt realm of musical biopics. It's not just about a radiant band, it's its soul characters. What we see is a dazzling life, a fleeting bloom and wither that is fleeting but has not yet been settled, and the story of all other beings that intersect with it physically, spatially, spiritually, and even through time and space.
The suicide of joy division's lead singer and sole lyricist, Ian Curtis, shocked the music scene with his death in 1980. Prior to that, the band, founded in Salford, Greater Manchester, England in 1976, released their first studio album Unknown Pleasures in 1979. The album didn't get much attention at first, and it wasn't seen on various charts, but as more and more praise and even amazement appeared, more critics and fans began to notice the differences in the album.
To this day, one of the greatest albums in rock 'n' roll history has been widely regarded as a pioneer of post-punk music. Shortly after Ian Curtis' departure, the band released their second and final album, Closer, which is now credited with ushering in the post-punk era of rock and roll. The rest of the band later formed the New Order, and the history of the joy division came to an end.
▲ The classic cover of the "unknown pleasures" album
Joy Division's short four-year life adds to its legend. "Unknown pleasures" and "closer" gave people a glimpse of the band's potential for explosive power, and thus lamented the fact that they had not yet released their full energy and died. Before Ian Curtis committed suicide, the band was preparing to set off for the United States to begin their North American tour, and the world's largest music market might have taken them to unimaginable historical heights.
Given this historical background, the screenplay for Control was adapted from the biopic "Touching from a Distance" published by Ian's widow, Deborah, and focused on the personal world of Ian Curtis, the marriage he entered at the age of 19, the stress of fame, his depression, epilepsy, and eventual collapse.
The reason why it is not a musical biopic in the strict sense of the word above is because the film does not focus on the ups and downs of the band, but focuses on the love between Ian Curtis and his wife Deborah, their failed marriage, and the extramarital affair between Ian and journalist Annik. All three of these roles are given a strong vitality by the corresponding actors.
Sam Riley completely revived Ian Curtis on the screen, his childishness, his famous dances when he sang (as a heavily underrated dancer and choreographer, many of Ian Curtis's singing moves have become classics and have been imitated by posterity), his singing, his gloom, madness and moodiness, are portrayed by Sam Reilly into the wood, we can not see a trace of the performance, because in this movie, Sam Reilly was completely replaced by Ian Curtis. Curtis is possessed, and he is Ian Curtis.
Ian Curtis, played by Sam Riley
Samantha Morton, the actress who plays Ian's wife Deborah, once revealed in an interview that she is not really keen on the genre of biopics. But as a loyal joy division fan, she was still impressed by the script and decided to take on the role. And her performance is also phenomenal. Fragile and strong, deborah sees family as her life, loving Ian deeply but unable to understand his almost morbid relationship with his music. This eventually pushed Ian to the brink of collapse, leaving him in the arms of Belgian journalist Annek.
Alexandra Maria Lara, played by Alexandra Maria Lara, is Sam Reilly's real-life wife, and she plays Annick who is charming and thoughtful, a complete opposite of Deborah, which makes Ian addicted.
▲ Stills from "Control", on the right is Deborah played by Samantha Morton
▲ Annick played by Alexandra Maria Lana
Director Anton Corbijn was the cinematographer of the joy division and the band's most die-hard fans, and behind his lens, we see behind the great success, a pure musician, a man who had to balance the double pressures of his personal world and family at a young age, a soul tormented by epilepsy and trapped in the dark abyss of his own music and poetry. The black-and-white picture aptly reflects the joy division's oppressive heavy music and the tragic life that Ian Curtis seemed doomed to begin with.
In such a film where everything looks at reality, the director's bold decision is to let the actors recreate all the live music scenes. This crazy decision was so successful with the dedication of the actors led by Sam Riley that it was even difficult to distinguish whether the shots were shot in the studio or taken from some magical historical shot.
▲ Stills from "Control"
As those who haven't lived through the joy division era (Ian Curtis hanged himself on May 18, 1980), we are not qualified to talk about "nostalgia" here. But the joy division's music is so full of somber magic, and Ian Curtis's lyrics are so oppressive, angry, and manic that anyone who has lived through it— like it or not—will be haunted by this history.
36 years after Ian left, we can still hear the joy division in the music of bands such as radioheads, editors, depeche mode, interpol, etc., and we still hear "love will tear us apart", "dead souls", "atmosphere", and "she's lost" on radio, movies or other cultural forms control", the names of the joy division and ian curtis are still occasionally seen in books or in the talk of the online world. All of this should be enough for Ian Curtis, who has never wanted to sing and dance.
P.S. Ian Curtis speaks to himself in the film about the poems of the English Romantic poet William Wordsworth:
my heart leaps up when ibehold a rainbow in the sky: so was it when my lifebegan, so is it now i am a man, so be it when i shallgrow old or let me die! the child is father ofthe man: and i could wish my daysto be bound each to each bynatural piety.
And a poem Ian wrote to his wife Debroah in 1973:
i wish i were a warhol silk screen hanging on the wall or little joe or maybe lou i'd love to be them all all new york city's broken hearts and secrets would be mine i'd put you on a movie reel and that would bejust fine.
Author's historical manuscript
(1) An acoustic disc, a road trip like a lifetime away