Anton Corbijn hasn't lost Control

Rating: 7/10 (13 October 2007)

Black and White images of the life of Ian Curtis. David Bowie's songs in slow motions. Smoking cigarettes in depressive bars. Here are the young men, the weighs on their shoulders. "Control" is an esthetically portrait of the lead singer of Joy Division, from the day he meets Deborra, his future wife, to the day he dies. It's from her eyes that the story of his life is told, and this subjective and personal point of view gives coherence and strength to this touching movie.
Useless to say that the photography of the movie is beautiful, and carries a real artistic point of view on this biopic. The construction of each frames of the film reinforces the solitude and loneliness of the character, by isolating him in one part of the screen. Only when he's with Annik Honoré, he's paradoxically allowed to be completed. The music is also beautifully played and interpreted, and the actor Sam Rilley's made an impressive visual as vocal work as Ian Curtis. His version of "She's lost control" is for instance almost better than the original one.
The only reproach I can make to this very well done movie is maybe a little over-interpretative uses of Joy Division's music. Every songs has to means something in Ian Curtis's life. "She's lost control" is a direct reference to his epilepsy or "Love will tear us apart" is a statement about is the failure of his couple. This constant references to Curtis life trough his song gives a rather unoriginal and predictive use of them, that culminates in the last song of the movie, "Atmosphere", that is exactly use as in Witterbottom's movie "24 Hours Party People".
But besides this "Walk the line" aspect of the movie, that can be considered as the week point of every biopic about a singer, the movie is very touching, honest and beautiful. All in all, it's an excellent cinematographic translation of Joy Division's musical universe. One last transmission ? Listen to the silence, let it ring on Eyes dark, relentless, frightened of the sun, we would have a fine time living in the night Left a blind instruction, take away our sight !