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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