Control (4 Stars)

True Stories #28

Name: Ian Curtis

Lived: 15 July 1956 – 18 May 1980

Film dates: 1973 to 1980 (death)

Film made in 2007

When I reviewed the film about Oystein Aarseth yesterday I wrote that those loved by the gods die young. It's appropriate that I watched "Control" today, a film about a singer who died even younger.

Ian Curtis was a tragic figure. He was exceptionally intelligent, but he didn't go to university. The film doesn't state the reason. Maybe his parents were too poor, although that shouldn't have been an issue, because my parents were poor as well. My university degree was financed by a government grant. Maybe his mental disposition prevented him going to university. As a teenager he was very aloof, and it was questionable whether he could have looked after himself. Maybe the book on which this film is based gives an answer.

Here's a tip for serious film fans. Pay attention to any books shown in a film. It doesn't matter whether someone's reading a book or there are just books as props in a bookcase. Directors make deliberate choices what books to show in a film, and they're always significant. In "Control" we're shown the books on Ian Curtis' shelf. It's astounding reading material for a 16-year-old. The books show the depth of his intellect.

Note: Allen Ginsberg's name is spelt wrong. It was a blunder when creating an artificial prop for the shelf. I also owned the book "Howl and other poems", and it was a very thin book. If the real book had been used in the film, the spine would have been too thin to read the title, so a fake book was created for the scene, and they slipped up.

Ian might not have gone to university, but he remained an avid reader as he grew older. We see him reading books in later scenes. He got married to Debbie Woodruff at the age of 19, which blocked any possibility of beginning higher education later in his life.

After seeing the Sex Pistols in concert, Ian met three other teenagers who'd formed a band and were looking for a singer. He joined the band, Joy Division, and wrote all of their songs. Ian Curtis was a true poet, one of the greatest poets of the 20th Century. It's usual to compare him with Jim Morrison, especially because of the similarity of their voices, but Ian's songs were darker and more depressing than Jim's. In the film he says that Joy Division's songs aren't meant to be beautiful, they're meant to make people depressed.

Depression is what characterised Ian's life. He had little interaction with the other band members. He was on a completely different level. In later years they said that literary critics explained his songs, and they'd never know what they were singing about. On stage Ian went into a trance, looking neither at the audience nor the other band members. He had a unique stage antic in which he walked or even ran on the spot, pushing his body to the point of exhaustion. He gave everything on stage, more than he had to give.

Ian Curtis suffered from epilepsy. Despite heavy medication, he was unable to keep it under control. He even had fits on stage. It was common for the rest of the band to continue playing while he was carried out, pretending it was part of the show.

Joy Division toured Britain, and then the rest of Europe, but the band remained poor. They hardly earned enough to cover their expenses. That put a great strain on Debbie, who needed to work to support their family, including their new-born baby girl.

That leads to the most controversial element in the film. The film shows him having an affair with the Belgian embassy employee Annik Honoré. It's doubtful that this ever happened. "Control" is based on a book written by Ian's wife Debbie. She wrote a lot about the affair in the book, but Annik herself denies there was ever an affair. When Debbie wrote the book in 1995, Annik shrugged it off as fantasy, but after the film was made she couldn't remain silent any more. In the book Debbie wrote that Annik rang their house every day to speak to Ian. Annik claims that she never rang their house, not once, but Debbie rang her every day, yelling at her to leave her husband alone. Annik often accompanied Joy Division on tours, but she says there was never a romantic involvement with Ian. She says that they used to talk for hours. Ian complained to Annik that Debbie couldn't understand him, and Annik was the only one he could talk to. Judging by what she said, it sounds like Annik wasn't a lover, she was a good friend. The other band members could neither verify nor deny an affair. They knew that Ian and Annik spent time together, but they didn't ask what they were doing.

Speaking from my own personal experience, many women are like Debbie, especially women who don't have an intellectual connection with their husband. Debbie had no idea what was going on in Ian's head, so she assumed that if he was with another woman it must have been a love affair. That's sad. Adding a love affair to the film makes it a good story, but it doesn't mean it's true.

In the end, Debbie threw him out of their house. Ian attempted to make up with her, but she rejected him. The following morning he hanged himself, and he was dead at the age of 23. It's a morbid fact that Ian's suicide boosted the sales of Joy Division's two albums. Posthumously he's been recognised as a great singer and an outstanding poet.

Maybe Ian Curtis and Annik Honoré were never lovers, but a new romance blossomed between the actors. Sam Riley and Alexandra Maria Lara met for the first time while making "Control". They married two years later and are still together today.

Success Rate:  - 0.6

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