Control- A film about Ian Curtis

Control (2007)

Film review

I've always liked Joy Division and their music. From a young age I've been musically molded by my dad; he'd always be playing some kind of Smiths song or have The White Stripes on full volume, so it's no surprise I grew up to be incredibly interested in music. However it's not just the music I enjoy, I like researching about the bands too, finding out all about their lives and journeys to success. Therefore, films which evaluate and document the lives of bands/band members are really interesting to me.

Control is a film that follows Ian Curtis, his
family life, personal inner turmoil, illnesses and battle to success. I loved it from start to finish. Directed by Anton Corbijn- a renowned photographer- the film is just effortlessly beautiful and so delicately pieced together. Given that it's based on the book written by Ian Curtis' actual wife, I like to assume that it's also quite factually accurate.

The actors definitely add to the already incredible foundations of the movie. Sam Riley plays Ian so well; he makes it all feel very real and I could actually see the hurt and distress in the character's eyes. Samantha Morton is also incredible as Debbie Curtis, she illustrates how distraught and upset Deborah would've been with Ian and what the fame was doing to him and shows the real pain that she would have felt. It's portrayed that the relationship between Ian and Deborah fluctuates and is never really stable, which I concluded, must have had a knock-on affect on Curtis (just another factor that contributed to his depression and eventually suicide). But it's not just these two characters that are amazing, the overall casting is just great. They're all very talented actors and inject life into the profound story of Curtis' life. 

I really like how the film is shot in black and white, and although I usually prefer colour films, I think it was extremely clever to not film 'Control' in colour. As I feel it intentionally allows us to focus on the raw emotions in the film without having the distraction of even colour. I also think it gives the film the low, underlying tone of unhappiness and reflects the constant and relentless feelings of despair that Curtis had throughout his life and rise to success. It shows that even when things were good and he was seemingly content, it was never quite good enough to see things in the pretty, bright and happy colours that everyone else viewed the world in. It portrays Ian's depression and his inability to feel entirely happy.

The film explains so much about Ian: his struggle with epilepsy; having a baby; musical interests. I learnt so much that I didn't know before watching it, not just about him but about the band in general, their popularity and how they rose to become the well known band they were/are today. It showed Ian's energy on stage and how each performance exhausted him because he poured so much emotion into each song. Now when I listen to Joy Division (or the first New Order EP after Ian's death) I can attempt to understand the songs better or interpret what he meant, if anything, by the sombre words and lyrics.

I really can't recommend this film enough if you're a fan of Joy Division.

Another great film which documents the life of a troubled singer is 'Montage of Heck'- about Kurt Cobain. It contains real video footage though and isn't as artistically stitched together as 'Control'. It contains interviews with family and friends who knew Kurt and is more like a documentary than a film, still equally as interesting as 'Control' though and a damn good film.

Thank you if you read or enjoyed this!