Control

by Ari

Control paints an appropriately dark portrait of Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis. It’s rare for a biopic to avoid predictable and sentimental moments since there’s a formula to these types of films that most writers and directors rely on. So it’s doubly exciting when an artist breaks into new form and presents something singular, ambitious and edgy. Anton Corbijn has taken the tragic story of Curtis and made a piercing, thoughtful, beautifully realized profile of a troubled youth’s inner plight. Control isn’t so much about the creation of Joy Division’s music as it is the struggle this one person had with himself and the people around him.

The film is based on the memoir written by his then wife Deborah Curtis, titled “Touching from a Distance”. That title perfectly captures the essence of who Curtis was and how he’s presented in this film. He’s young, he makes crucial decisions in his life that change things for the worse.....he’s the one to blame. Nothing he does is out of intentional cruelty or malice, but his choices affect everyone around him irrevocably, especially his wife Deborah (Samantha Morton) and his secret lover Annik (Alexandra Maria Lara). By the time his inevitable suicide ends the film, you get the feeling that everyone lost something. You feel, despite Curtis’s flaws, a deep sadness for his struggles and pain and a sense of loss and tragedy for the ones who loved and cared for him most. I didn’t expect the conclusion of this film to hit me with that level of emotion, but it did.

Much of this impact had to do with the remarkable breakthrough performance by Sam Riley as Curtis. His sense of emotional distance is difficult to understand at times, but I think that honestly portrays the way the real person probably was. His wife Deborah is particularly hurt by their lack of communication. They marry very young and immediately have a child, and once Curtis realizes the amount of responsibility and commitment it requires, he shuts himself away from it all. As he states at one point, he knows he’s a poor father and dreads the day his daughter will understand that and despise him. As a young adult, Curtis seemed overly eager to have tangible, life-altering experiences. His choices were made on a whim and the consequences were too much to bear. He would escape from this chaos through his music, but even that began to take an enormous toll on his physical and mental state. As presented in the film, his music is more than a passion, it’s a release and cleansing of his soul at the same time it’s a representation of his pain and suffering. The music and performances are something that both wound and heal. This is captured incredibly by the lead performance. The actor’s body language says just as much as his dialogue.

Once he realizes that he rushed a marriage and child, he finds a sense of peace with Annik Honore, a Belgian journalist who interviews and falls for him. The difficulty between he and his wife during this period is brutal and emotional, and when she says “I don’t deserve this”, she means it. As Joy Division gets new gigs and develops a following, Curtis’s personal problems escalate. He suffers from epileptic fits, sometimes on his own, sometimes on stage. The story doesn’t dwell on this element to inspire tears from the audience, but the moments when his fits do occur are intense and frightening. The film wisely continues to explore the dynamic between Ian, Deborah and Annik, and it’s because of this that the ending is so emotionally wrenching. Control is a very well constructed and expertly directed film, quieter than one might expect, subtle instead of energetic. The crisp black and white cinematography won the Golden Camera award at Cannes this year. The dark photography gives the film more than a sense of foreboding, it presents the world in a way that stylishly but realistically might have been how Curtis saw it - through shadows, obscurity, darkness, loneliness.

Control is a tough and personal film, yet another excellent 2007 release. At this rate it looks like ‘99 is finally getting a decent challenge.