Ian Curtis Biopic “Control” Premiers At Cannes Film Festival, Fitting Tribute To The Joy Division Visionary
Today marks the 27th anniversary of Ian Curtis’ death, when at age 23, Curtis hanged himself on the eve of his band’s departure for a tour of the U.S. In a fitting tribute to his brief, but brilliant career, a new biopic titled Control premiered last night at Cannes which chronicles his short life and that of his band Joy Division. The film is based on the book written by Curtis’ wife Deborah called Touching From a Distance and follows his life from the start of band’s formation (1976) to his death on May 18th, 1980. The couple have one child, daughter Natalie who was born in 1979.
It would be difficult to imagine today’s musical landscape without the influence of Ian Curtis and Joy Division. Despite having the legacy of being one of the youngest rock musicians to die so early in his career, Ian Curtis like so many before and after him, continues to impact our lives through his music.
Dutch rock-photographer and videographer Anton Corbijn, who is making his directorial debut with Control, photographed Joy Division in the late 70’s. He’s also a legendary music videographer who directed Nirvana’s “Heart Shaped Box,” Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus,” and literally dozens of others, as well as, having photographed virtually every big name in music including the album covers for Depeche Mode and U2′ s Joshua Tree. Corbijn is quite literally a legend of rock in his own right, which makes him the perfect fit to capture the life of a rock legend.
Working as a photographer for British rock mags, Corbijn was on the scene to capture the dark, but electric mood of the late 70’s as the now legendary label Factory Records helped spawn the careers of Joy Division, and later New Order (see also OMD, Happy Mondays and Duritti Column) during a period that also saw the emergence of The Sex Pistols and the Buzzcocks, just to name a couple.
Corbijn recalls the period and his decision to film the movie in stark black and white:
”My whole memory of that period is black and white. There is basically no color photography of that band around. So it felt very proper to the project.”
Corbijn also felt strongly about his decision to cast a relative unknown actor Sam Riley in the role of Curtis based on his initial impressions of the actor:
”A lot of bands I met, including Joy Division, were kind of underdressed - a thin coat on, smoking and shivering in the cold. When I met Sam it was also in the winter and he was totally the same…had an innocence and a freshness that I was hoping for but never thought I would find.”
Despite an all-too-short life, both as a group and for that of their lead singer Ian Curtis, Joy Division has had a tremendous influence of many of today’s biggest names in rock. U2’s Bono has described Curtis voice as “holy” and wrote the song “A Day Without Me,” as a direct reference to the suicide of Curtis. This was the first single released off of U2’s debut album Boy in 1980. NIN’s Trent Reznor is also a fan of Curtis’ work and covered Joy Division’s amazing song “Dead Souls” which was a released on The Crow soundtrack and Reznor often lists the band and Curtis as an early influence.
It would be fair to trace Curtis and company in the sounds of Bauhaus, Echo and The Bunnymen, Depeche Mode, The Cure, Siouxie and The Banshees and certainly later in the sounds of techno master Moby, who covered “New Dawn Fades” for the Heat soundtrack, which may possibly be the greatest movie soundtrack ever made.
Clearly, Curtis’ life was polarized between his creative forces and his personal pain. Ian suffered from epilepsy and this certainly contributed in part to his various spikes in emotions and personality conflicts. His wife Deborah described him as very controlling, often moody and distant. At the time of Curtis’ suicide the couple were contemplating divorce which was exacerbated by Ian’s affair with a Belgian writer named Annik Honore.
Deborah says these torn feelings may have been at the root cause of his suicide, but even she has no definitive answers:
“Maybe he was concerned about doing the right thing. Maybe he was torn between what he should do and what he wanted to do. Maybe Annik wasn’t the one, but he felt he needed to go. I don’t know. I’ve spent a lot of time wondering, because there were so many other things he could’ve done besides commit suicide.
Only Ian Curtis knows why he took his own life on the eve of what was clearly to be a journey into rock greatness, leaving behind many broken lives, including that of his bandmates. With the end of Joy Division (the band agreed that if any member departed, they would change the name) New Order was created, and we should all be thankful for that.
Hopefully this new biopic will shed some light into the world of a mysterious figure that most of us know only through his lyrics and haunting voice; and while these gifts are priceless in quality, their absence in quantity is painful to bear.
Perhaps the answer to the mystery of his death can be found in Ian’s own words:
Love Will Tear Us Apart
When the routine bites hard
And ambitions are low
And the resentment rides high
But emotions wont grow
And were changing our ways,
Taking different roads
Then love, love will tear us apart againWhy is the bedroom so cold
Turned away on your side?
Is my timing that flawed,
Our respect run so dry?
Yet theres still this appeal
That weve kept through our lives
Love, love will tear us apart againDo you cry out in your sleep
All my failings expose?
Get a taste in my mouth
As desperation takes hold
Is it something so good
Just cant function no more?
When love, love will tear us apart again
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Mention is made of the Durutti Column. Vinni and Bruce are still making the most brilliant music. Return of the Durutti Column [album] is a classic. Catch tracks also like Rob Gray’s Elegy, The Sea Wall, Nina, Messidor. ALso no mention of Martin Hannett. He produced Return of the Durutti Column for example but helped found Factory Records and Joy Division. See Wikipedia.
Comment by Chris Hamburg — May 18, 2007 @ 3:05 pm
[…] (Quotes via GlossLip) […]
Pingback by This Is The Last… » Blog Archive » “Control” Premiers At Cannes Film Festival - Tribute to Joy Division’s Ian Curtis — May 18, 2007 @ 5:12 pm
OK, as much as I like Joy Division, how do they continue to influence ANYTHING?
I think that time had passed. That’s like saying people are actually paying attention that The Smashing Pumpkins are “reunited” (sort of). They aren’t. We have The Silversun Pickups now.
Listen to Dan Le Sac VS The Scroobius Pip - “Thou Shalt Not Kill”
Joy Division?
Just a band.
Comment by Jason Meltzer Patterson — May 20, 2007 @ 7:42 am
This was really interesting and makes me want to see this film about a person I know nothing about. I also checked out the director’s website. Awesome!
Comment by Lori Biamonte — May 22, 2007 @ 4:17 am
Saw the movie yesterday and really liked it!
Comment by WendyB — September 26, 2007 @ 12:56 pm