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{{otheruses4|the 2007 film|other uses|Control}}
{{otheruses4|the 2007 film|other uses|Control}}


'''''Control''''' is Anton Corbijn's 2007 black-and-white [[biopic]] about the late [[Ian Curtis]] ([[1956]]-[[1980]]), lead singer of [[post-punk]] band [[Joy Division]]. The screenplay is based on the book ''[[Touching from a Distance]]'', by Curtis's wife, [[Deborah Curtis|Deborah]], who is also a co-producer of the film.
'''''Control''''' is Anton Corbijn's 2007 black-and-white [[biopic]] about the late [[Ian Curtis]] ([[1956]]-[[1980]]), lead singer of [[post-punk]] band [[Joy Division]]. The screenplay written by Matt Greenhalgh is based on the book ''[[Touching from a Distance]]'', by Curtis's wife, [[Deborah Curtis|Deborah]], who is also a co-producer of the film.


The film details the life of the troubled young musician, who forged a new kind of music out of the [[punk rock]] scene of 1970s [[UK|Britain]], and the band [[Joy Division]], which he headed from 1977 to 1980. It also deals with his rocky marriage and extramarital affairs, as well as his increasingly frequent [[epileptic seizure|seizures]], which were thought to contribute to the circumstances leading to his [[suicide]] on the eve of Joy Division's first [[United States|U.S.]] tour.
The film details the life of the troubled young musician, who forged a new kind of music out of the [[punk rock]] scene of 1970s [[UK|Britain]], and the band [[Joy Division]], which he headed from 1977 to 1980. It also deals with his rocky marriage and extramarital affairs, as well as his increasingly frequent [[epileptic seizure|seizures]], which were thought to contribute to the circumstances leading to his [[suicide]] on the eve of Joy Division's first [[United States|U.S.]] tour.

Revision as of 23:51, 16 December 2007

Control
Directed byAnton Corbijn
Written byMatt Greenhalgh
Deborah Curtis
Produced byTony Wilson
Deborah Curtis
Todd Eckert
Orian Williams
Iain Canning
Peter Heslop
StarringSam Riley
Samantha Morton
Alexandra Maria Lara
CinematographyMartin Ruhe
John Watson
Music byJoy Division
New Order
Distributed byClaraflora (UK)
The Weinstein Company (US)
Release dates
United Kingdom October 5, 2007
LanguageEnglish
This article is about the 2007 film. For other uses, see Control.

Control is Anton Corbijn's 2007 black-and-white biopic about the late Ian Curtis (1956-1980), lead singer of post-punk band Joy Division. The screenplay written by Matt Greenhalgh is based on the book Touching from a Distance, by Curtis's wife, Deborah, who is also a co-producer of the film.

The film details the life of the troubled young musician, who forged a new kind of music out of the punk rock scene of 1970s Britain, and the band Joy Division, which he headed from 1977 to 1980. It also deals with his rocky marriage and extramarital affairs, as well as his increasingly frequent seizures, which were thought to contribute to the circumstances leading to his suicide on the eve of Joy Division's first U.S. tour.

The title is a reference to the Joy Division song, "She's Lost Control" - believed to be a reference to an epileptic client befriended by Curtis while employed at a Job Centre in Manchester, who later died during a seizure.[1]

The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, on 17 May 2007 where it was received well by critics, especially for Sam Riley's performance.[2] The film was winner of the Director's Fortnight, the CICAE Art & Essai prize for best film, the Regards Jeunes Prize for best first/second directed feature film and the Europa Cinemas Label prize for best European film in the sidebar.[3] It also won five awards in the British Independent Film Awards, including "Best British Independent Film", "Best Director of a British Independent Film" for Corbijn and "Most Promising Newcomer" for Riley.[4] A date for the DVD release hasn't been set, but Amazon's online store claims the scheduled release date to be 18th February 2008.

Plot

The films begins in 1973, with 17 year old Ian Curtis living in a block of flats in Macclesfield, England with his parents and his sister. It is during this period that he first meets Debbie Woodruff who is dating his best friend Nick. After bonding over a love of music and Ian's penchant for poetry, they attend a David Bowie concert together and realise they share a mutual attraction. Ian quickly proposes and Debbie accepts. Despite the fact they they are both very young, they are married and move in together. However Ian quickly loses interest in married life, locking himself in his room writing poetry, while Debbie decorates the house.

The film then follows Ian and Debbie attending a Sex Pistols gig in 1976 where he meets Stiff Kittens band members Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, and Terry Mason. All 3 members criticize their lead singer which leads Ian to approach the band at the end of the concert to suggest he become vocalist. This then leads the band to become Warsaw, recruiting Stephen Morris as drummer with Mason taking over managerial duties. With great nervousness leading up to it, the band eventually plays their first gig.

At this time Ian is working as a civil servant in Macclesfield and is given the opportunity to record a demo of the band to perform. This results in Ian and Debbie paying £400 to have the demo recorded but now under the new name Joy Division. The demo EP, "An Ideal for Living," was recorded and sent to local music mogul Tony Wilson. The band watch Tony give a less-than-impressive mention of the EP on his television show, leaving them angry and upset. Joy Division then attend a battle of the bands event at a bar where they impress everyone including Wilson and DJ Rob Gretton, who offers his services to manage the band.

Tony Wilson then agrees to let the band perform on their TV show. The band perform "Transmission" with Ian's parents, sister, and wife watching at home. This performance then leads to Tony signing the band - signing the contract in his own blood.

The band then starts to tour with Ian starting to neglect his now-pregnant wife. Ian also keeps his job as a civil servant at the Employment Exchange. As he interviews a job seeker, she has an epileptic fit that leads him to write the lyrics for "She's Lost Control." Shortly after this, Ian suffers a similar fit while traveling from a gig and in the hospital, it is revealed that he has epilepsy. Ian tried to get in contact with the epileptic girl, but discovers she has died. Treatment for epilepsy at this time relied on trial and error with medications; those that Ian takes leave him drowsy and moody. The doctor recommends to Ian that he gets plenty of early nights and abstain from alcohol (both of which Ian ignores). Due to the medication and the late nights, Ian is becoming extremely tired at work and after a chat with his supervisor, who advises him he cannot do both at the same time, Ian decides to resign from his role and follow his dreams of becoming a successful musician, despite the more unsteady income. At this time, Debbie gives birth to a baby girl, Natalie, and is forced to take up work to make up the wages Ian has lost with his resignation.

Joy Division then travels to London for a gig where the band meets Annik Honoré, who wishes to interview the band for a Belgian music fanzine. After the rest of the band fall asleep Ian and Annik talk and Ian admits that he has been trying to leave his home town for a while and that his marriage was a mistake. The band then travel to France to do a tour where Ian and Annik start an affair. Debbie is initially unaware of the affair, but becomes suspicious when Ian admits he's unsure if he loves Debbie anymore. Whilst Ian is shooting the video for "Love Will Tear Us Apart" Debbie searches through the house for clues as to whether Ian is having an affair. She finds Annik's telephone number and calls her. Debbie confronts Ian who vows to break up the affair, which he doesn't do. It is at this point that Rob informs the band that they will be touring America.

During a gig Ian has another epileptic fit. He is carried off stage and is comforted by Annik. With the pressure of his family, his affair, the band, and his epilepsy, Ian takes an overdose and collapses in his house. Before his collapse he writes a letter to Debbie saying that he loves Annik. Ian is then rushed to hospital and released a few day later. Joy Division are then due to perform a concert at Bury's "Derby Hall" where Ian is clearly unwell and walks off stage. Rob Gretton asks then lead of the support group, Alan Hempsall of Crispy Ambulance, to cover. Hempsall agrees, but this leads to a riot on stage. After the riot Ian says to Tony that he feels everyone hates him and it's all his own fault. The scene showing Tony Wilson talking to Ian Curtis in the empty Derby Hall features a large equipment case on which the number "501" prominently appears. When Tony Wilson was buried in August, 2007, his coffin was marked with the number 501, the last number in the Factory Records catalog.

Having left the marital home Ian is forced to stay at various people's homes. Initially he stays at Rob's (with Annik in tow). Rob informs Debbie of Ian's whereabouts and Debbie tells Rob to let Ian know she wants a divorce. He then stays at Bernard's who tries hypnotherapy on Ian to see if this helps his thinking. Eventually he returns to his parents home and agrees to stay there until the American tour.

Two nights before the tour he decides to return home to talk to Debbie. He arrives home and watches Stroszek on television before Debbie arrives home. He begs Debbie to take him back and argues that his affair with Annik is an unrelated matter. Debbie brushes it off and then Ian orders her out of the house until the following day where he will be gone. Alone in the house, Ian drinks large glasses of whiskey and plays Iggy Pop's The Idiot (album) whilst writing a letter to Debbie. As he places it on the mantelpiece he has another seizure and collapses, unconscious. He regains consciousness early the following morning. He then walks into the kitchen where he sees the clothesline. He hangs himself.

Later that day Debbie returns home and walks into the house. She then discovers Ian's body hung in the kitchen (the actual scene of Curtis' body hanging is not shown) and runs out of the house in hysteria, holding Natalie as she cries "can someone help me". As Atmosphere plays we see Rob Gretton, the remaining members of Joy Division and Stephen's girlfriend Gillian Gilbert in a pub staring silently and Tony Wilson and his wife Lindsay picking up, and consoling, Annik at a train station. Church bells ring with very black smoke rising to the air from a crematorium. The message "Ian Kevin Curtis died May 18, 1980. He was 23 years old." appears on the screen. The screen then fades to black with Atmosphere still playing.

Cast

Production

Anton Corbijn, the film's director, had been a devout Joy Division fan since the band's early days in the late 1970s. After moving to England, he met the band and shot several pictures for NME, which boosted his career as a photographer. He also directed the music video for the 1988 rerelease of "Atmosphere".

Control marks Corbijn's debut as a movie director, and he paid half of the €4.5 million budget out of his own pocket.[5] The film was shot on color stock and printed to black and white to "reflect the atmosphere of Joy Division and the mood of the era."[6] Todd Eckert and Orian Williams are the producers. Deborah Curtis, Ian Curtis' widow, is a co-producer, along with music mogul Tony Wilson, who passed away months before the film's release. Wilson was the one who gave Joy Division their TV break on the rock music programme So It Goes, and he also founded Factory Records, which released most of Joy Division's work. It is also interesting to note that the performance on So It Goes was altered to show the band playing Transmission instead of Shadowplay, which was exhibited on the original broadcast (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LdEM9xhMUM).

After the script for the film was finished in May of 2005, the movie was filmed on location in Nottingham, Manchester and Macclesfield, England, as well as other European venues. Filming began on July 3, 2006 and lasted for seven weeks. Filming in and around Barton Street (where Curtis lived and died), Macclesfield took place on July 11th & 12th, 2006. EM Media, [7] the Regional Screen Agency for the East Midlands, invested £250,000 of European Regional Development Funds into the production of Control and supported the film throughout the shoot. Samantha Morton (Deborah Curtis) and Toby Kebbell (Rob Gretton) both studied at the Junior TV Workshop in Nottingham. Kebbell starred opposite Paddy Considine (who played Gretton in 24 Hour Party People) in Shane Meadows' Dead Man's Shoes.

Release

The Weinstein Company secured the rights to release the film in North America after its success at Cannes.[8]. It is currently slated for a limited US release on October 10th, 2007, [9] however, Joy Division Central reports that the film will be released in the US on October 19th[10].

Reception

Peter Bradshaw, the chief film reviewer for The Guardian, described Control as "the best film of the year: a tender, bleakly funny and superbly acted biopic of Curtis."[11]

Soundtrack

Untitled

The Killers cover the 1979 Joy Division song Shadowplay on the soundtrack.[12] However, all live Joy Division performances in the film are performed by the actors. The actors contribute a cover of an original Joy Division song (Transmission) to the soundtrack. Incidental tracks by 1970s artists like David Bowie and the Sex Pistols are the original recordings. New Order provided the original incidental music for the soundtrack.

  1. New Order - "Exit"
  2. The Velvet Underground - "What Goes On"
  3. The Killers - "Shadowplay"
  4. Buzzcocks - "Boredom (live)"
  5. Joy Division - "Dead Souls"
  6. Supersister - "She Was Naked"
  7. Iggy Pop - "Sister Midnight"
  8. Joy Division - "Love Will Tear Us Apart"
  9. Sex Pistols - "Problems (live)"
  10. New Order - "Hypnosis"
  11. David Bowie - "Drive In Saturday"
  12. John Cooper Clarke - "Evidently Chickentown"
  13. Roxy Music - "2H.B."
  14. Joy Division - "Transmission" (performed by the cast)
  15. Kraftwerk - "Autobahn"
  16. Joy Division - "Atmosphere"
  17. David Bowie - "Warszawa"
  18. New Order - "Get Out"

References

  1. ^ Reynolds, Simon (2006) Rip It Up and Start Again: PostPunk 1978-1984. New York: Penguin Books.
  2. ^ Critics applaud Joy Division film BBC News. Written 17 May 2007. Accessed 17 May 2007.
  3. ^ http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ia1d853f2aa37e6e73370f4cac2254874
  4. ^ "BIFA Winners 2007". British Independent Film Awards. 2007-11-28. Retrieved 2007-12-01.
  5. ^ Interview with Anton Corbijn about the film Control. Dutch TV. 18 August 2006. Retrieved 18 August 2006.
  6. ^ Control: The Ian Curtis film. Joy Division Central. 2 February 2007. Retrieved 12 February 2007.
  7. ^ http://www.em-media.org.uk
  8. ^ "Control Picked up for North American Distribution".
  9. ^ http://www.weinsteinco.com/
  10. ^ "Joy Division Central".
  11. ^ Review by Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, October 5, 2007
  12. ^ NME, "The Killers cover Shadowplay" (15 Jan 2007) Access date: 2 August 2007.
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