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Control
Directed by	Anton Corbijn
Written by	Matt Greenhalgh Deborah Curtis
Produced by	Anton Corbijn Todd Eckert Orian Williams Iain Canning Peter Heslop Tony Wilson Deborah Curtis
Starring	Sam Riley Samantha Morton Toby Kebbell Alexandra Maria Lara
Cinematography	Martin Ruhe
Music by	Joy Division New Order
Distributed by	Momentum (UK) The Weinstein Company (US)
Release dates	United Kingdom 5 October 2007
Running time	122 minutes
Countries	Template:FilmUK Template:FilmUS
Language	English

Control is a 2007 black-and-white biopic film about 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 widow, Deborah, who is also a co-producer of the film. The film was directed by Dutch director Anton Corbijn. In the film, Ian Curtis is played by previously little-known actor Sam Riley. Samantha Morton plays Deborah, while Alexandra Maria Lara plays Annik, the woman with whom Curtis had an extramarital affair.

The film details the life of the troubled young musician, who forged a new kind of music out of the punk rock scene of the United Kingdom in the 1970s, 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 Macclesfield, who later died during a seizure. The film covers some of the same time as the 2002 film 24 Hour Party People, which is a biopic about Tony Wilson, the founder of the band's record label, Factory Records.

The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, on 17 May 2007 where it was well received by critics, especially for Riley's performance. 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. It won five awards in the British Independent Film Awards, including "Best British Independent Film", "Best Director of a British Independent Film" for Corbijn, "Most Promising Newcomer" for Riley and "Best Supporting Actor" for Toby Kebbell. It also won Best Film award in the Evening Standard British Film Awards for 2007. In 2008, writer Matt Greenhalgh won BAFTA's "Carl Foreman award for special achievement by a British director, writer or producer in their first feature film".

Plot

In 1973, Ian Curtis is living with his parents, Kevin and Doreen, and his sister, Carole. In a chemistry class, he daydreams, possibly displaying a symptom of petit mal, a minor form of the epilepsy which was to develop later in his life. It is during this period of his life 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, realizing their mutual attraction. Ian proposes and Debbie accepts, and though extremely young, they marry and move in together. His interest in married life fading soon after, however, Ian retreats to the solitude of his room, where he writes poetry, as Debbie decorates the house.

In 1976, after attending a Sex Pistols gig, Ian and Debbie meet Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, and Terry Mason, the members of a band who disliked their lead singer. Ian approaches the trio at the end of the gig, suggesting that he become their vocalist instead, which leads to the formation of Warsaw. With Stephen Morris recruited as the drummer, and Mason taking over managerial duties, the band anxiously play their first gig.

At this time Ian is working as a civil servant in Macclesfield and is given the opportunity to record an EP. This results in Ian and Debbie paying £400 to have four songs recorded and released but now under the new name Joy Division. The 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 upset. Joy Division then attend a battle of the bands event at a bar where they impress everyone including Wilson and Rob Gretton (DJ of Rafters), who offers to manage the band and has a propensity of spewing profanity.

Tony Wilson then agrees to let the band perform on their TV show. The band perform "Transmission" with Ian's family watching at home. This performance then leads to Tony signing the contract with the band in his own blood, with Rob Gretton making him add another 'S' to Stephen Morris's last name to "make it look professional", much to the band's amusement.

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"; in this sequence, we see Stephen Morris recording the famous spray can drum sound effect in the studio. The film's title, Control, derived from this song. 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 abstains from alcohol (both of which Ian ignores). Due to the medication and the late nights, Ian is becoming extremely tired at work. After a chat with his supervisor, Ian decides to resign from his role to pursue his musical career 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 (despite calling her to say that he has). 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 days 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 the lead singer of the support group, Alan Hempsall of Crispy Ambulance, to step in. Hempsall agrees, but this leads to a riot on stage by the audience. After the riot, Ian says to Tony that he feels everyone hates him and it's all his own fault.

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 when he will "be gone". Alone in the house, Ian drinks large glasses of whiskey and plays Iggy Pop's The Idiot 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 but is extremely weepy. He then walks into the kitchen where he sees their clothesline. Feeling depressed, lonely and possibly still drunk, he decides to end it all and hangs himself.

Later that day Debbie returns home and walks into the house. She then discovers Ian's body hanged 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 Joy Division's "Atmosphere" plays, we see Rob Gretton, the remaining members of Joy Division and Stephen's girlfriend Gillian Gilbert (the remaining members of Joy Division and Gillian would eventually form the alternative rock band New Order) 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 Curtis died 18 May 1980. He was 23 years old." appears on the screen. The screen then fades to black with "Atmosphere" still playing.

Cast

• Sam Riley as Ian Curtis, the main figure in the film and the vocalist of Joy Division. Riley was relatively unknown before the film, and the director initially considered Cillian Murphy for the role, but later changed his mind because he viewed Murphy as "a little shorter than Ian".
• Samantha Morton as Deborah Curtis, wife of Ian Curtis, whom she marries at a very young age but later in the film develops discord with her husband due to his affair with Annik. The film itself is based on Deborah's memoir on the experience with Ian Curtis and Joy Division. Though Morton dislikes biopics, she said Control was different in that she was personally a fan of Joy Division, and likes Deborah's book as well as Corbijn's photography.
• Alexandra Maria Lara as Annik Honoré, a journalist from Belgium and employee of the Belgian embassy. She has an affair with Ian Curtis after interviewing the band, exacerbating the tension between Ian and Deborah.
• Toby Kebbell as Rob Gretton, the manager of the band, succeeding Terry Mason. Kebbell provides humour and a lighter angle to the film.
• Joe Anderson as Peter Hook, the bass player of Joy Division.
• Craig Parkinson as Tony Wilson, the owner of the Factory Records company that distributes Joy Division's recordings.
• James Anthony Pearson as Bernard Sumner, the band's guitarist and keyboardist.
• Harry Treadaway as Stephen Morris, the drummer and percussionist of Joy Division.
• Andrew Sheridan as Terry Mason, the manager of the band before the arrival of Rob Gretton. (However, he still stays tour manager)
• Robert Shelly as Twinny, the roadie of the band.
• Matthew McNulty as Nick Jackson
• Ben Naylor as Martin Hannett, producer and co-founder of Factory Records with Tony Wilson.
• John Cooper Clarke as himself, a British performance poet who composes punk style works. In the film he performed his poem "Evidently Chickentown" in a re-creation of a 1970s concert.
• Lotti Closs as Gillian Gilbert, Stephen Morris' girlfriend and occasional live guitarist for Joy Division.
• Nicola Harrison as Corinne Lewis, a girl with epilepsy Ian Curtis met working in a job centre who inspired the song "She's Lost Control".
• Herbert Grönemeyer portrays a Public GP in a cameo.

Production

Corbijn 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. Some of his pictures taken are featured in the movie. He also directed the music video for the 1988 rerelease of "Atmosphere". He said that the film overlapped with his own life in some ways. "I had moved to England to be close to that music at the time, and I was very into Joy Division. I worked with them, took pictures of them that became synonymous with their music, and I was forever linked. Then eight years after death, I did the video for "Atmosphere." So in other people's eyes I was always connected with them."

Control marks Corbijn's debut as a movie director, and he paid half of the €4.5 million budget out of his own pocket. The film was shot on colour stock and printed to black and white to "reflect the atmosphere of Joy Division and the mood of the era". Todd Eckert and Orian Williams are the producers. Deborah Curtis, Ian Curtis' widow, is a co-producer, along with music mogul Tony Wilson, who died months before the film's release. It had been Wilson who had given Joy Division their TV break on the local magazine programme Granada Reports, and he also founded Factory Records, which released most of Joy Division's work.

After the script for the film was finished in May 2005, the film was shot at the former Carlton studios in Nottingham, and on location in Nottingham, Manchester and Macclesfield, England, as well as other European venues. Filming began on 3 July 2006 and lasted for seven weeks. Filming in and around Barton Street (where Curtis lived and died), Macclesfield took place on July 11 and 12 July 2006. EM Media, 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.

Ian Curtis' daughter, Natalie, was in the crowd as an extra for the Derby Hall gig.

At one point in the film, after Curtis suffers from an epileptic fit, the actor portraying Rob Gretton (Toby Kebbell) comments to him "It could be worse; You could be the lead singer in The Fall. Sam Riley had played Mark E. Smith, lead singer of The Fall, in the film 24 Hour Party People.

Release

The Weinstein Company secured the rights to release the film in North America after its success at Cannes. The DVD was released in the U.K. on 11 February 2008, followed by the Australian DVD on 12 March 2008, and the North American DVD on 3 June 2008.

Box office

The film grossed box office of $7,824,260, with 89% of its revenue from countries outside of the U.K.. It ranks 28th in terms of box office not adjusted for inflation among biopics, below 24 Hour Party People and above Stoned.

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". Prominent American film critic Roger Ebert gave the film a three and a half stars rating, out of four, and wrote that "The extraordinary achievement of Control is that it works simultaneously as a musical biopic and the story of a life."

Film review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes rated Control as "certified fresh" in its T-metric section, based on a wide array of critics, in which 86 of 98 critics reviewed the film positively. Metacritic reports the film as having an average score of 78 out of 100, based on 27 reviews, claiming the film had "generally favourable reviews".

However, some reviewers have disagreed and commented on the film negatively. Ray Bennett from Reuters remarked Control to be a "disappointment" and said the film "features lots of music from that time and has decent performances, but it fails to make the case for its fallen star".

Reaction from band members

Peter Hook and Stephen Morris, two of the founding members of Joy Division, generally praised the film. However, Morris has disputed its accuracy, saying "None of it's true really" but acknowledged the need to bend facts because "the truth is too boring". Hook criticised the preview audience's reaction, saying how at the end of the film "it really hurt and everybody started clapping. It would've been nice to have a dignified silence".

Hook also remarked that "Control is a hell of a lot more accurate than 24 Hour Party People. You can tell that Anton knew us, and he knew us well and he took the original script, which was very English and quite subtly he made it deeper and have a broader appeal so that it would not just make sense to an English audience but to an international audience."

After viewing the film at Cannes, Hook said he "knew it was a great film and that it would be very well received because, even though it's two hours long, only two people went to the toilet the whole time. In fact, one of them was Bernard. The other one was a 70-year-old woman."

Soundtrack

The Killers cover the 1979 Joy Division song "Shadowplay" on the soundtrack. 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 Buzzcocks are the original recordings. New Order provided the original incidental music for the soundtrack. The Sex Pistols' track was omitted from the US version.

Tracklisting

Notes

• The drawing made for the demo EP (An Ideal for Living) has two images. The first is of a Hitler Youth drummer boy, possibly inspired by the film Triumph of the Will. The second shows a German soldier and a small boy with arms raised. This image derives from a famous photo of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

References

1. Reynolds, Simon (2006). Rip It Up and Start Again: PostPunk 1978–1984. New York: Penguin Books. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
2. "Critics applaud Joy Division film". BBC News. 17 May 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-17. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
3. "'Control' tops Directors' Fortnight nods". The Hollywood Reporter. 26 May 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-27. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
4. "BIFA Winners 2007". British Independent Film Awards. 2007-11-28. Retrieved 2007-12-01.
5. "Bafta Film Awards 2008: The winners". BBC. 2008-02-10. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
6. Endelman, Michael (2006-02-24). "The Deal Report". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2008-06-28. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
7. Mclean, Craig (2007-09-23), "Samantha Morton: Why does our boldest film actress feel so persecuted for her loyalty to British indie cinema?", The Independent, retrieved 2008-06-28{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
8. Tewksbury, Drew (2007-10-08). "Losing 'Control'". Drew Tewksbury: Multimedia Journalist. Retrieved 2008-06-28.
9. Anton Corbijn et al. (2006). Interview with Anton Corbijn about the film Control (Television). Dutch TV. {{cite AV media}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |authors= (help)
10. "Control: The Ian Curtis film". Joy Division Central. 2007-02-02. Retrieved 2007-02-12. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
11. "Obituaries -- Tony Wilson", The Independent, 2007-08-13, retrieved 2008-08-10{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
12. "EM Media-backed films sweep the board at the BIFAs" (PDF) (Press release). EM Media. 2007-11-29. Retrieved 2008-06-28.
13. "Suddenly the reality hit me (Interview with Natalie Curtis)", The Guardian, 2007-09-22, retrieved 2008-06-26{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
14. "Sam Riley filmography". IMDB. Retrieved 2008-06-26.
15. "Control Picked up for North American Distribution". Hollywood Reporter. NewOrderOnline.com. 2006-06-02. Retrieved 2008-06-28.
16. "Control - Box Office Mojo". Retrieved 2008-06-24. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
17. Bradshaw, Peter (2007-10-05), "Control", The Guardian, retrieved 2008-06-25{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
18. Ebert, Roger (2007-10-26), "Control", Chicago Sun-Times, retrieved 2008-06-25{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
19. "Control - Rotten Tomatoes". Retrieved 2008-06-25. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
20. "Control - Metacritic". Retrieved 2008-09-20. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
21. Bennett, Ray (2007-05-29). "Joy Division movie "Control" a disappointment". Reuters. Retrieved 2008-06-25. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
22. "Joy Division biopic 'not true' say band". NME News. 2007-06-29. Retrieved 2008-06-25.
23. ^ Morley, Paul (2008). Joy Division: Piece By Piece. London: Plexus Publishing Limited. 349-350.
24. "The Killers cover Shadowplay". NME. 2007-01-15. Retrieved 2007-08-02. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

External links

• Controlthemovie.com - Official website
• The official website in Canada
• Control at IMDb
• Template:Amg movie
• Control at Rotten Tomatoes
• IONCINEMA.com interview with Anton for Control
• Control Movie Unofficial website - frequently updated with official and unofficial information and photos.
• A divided joy: seeing my father on film by Natalie Curtis, The Guardian, 30 September 2007
• Photos from the German premiere in Berlin on AEDT.de
• Best of British: 2007 Evening Standard film awards, Judges' assessments

• 2007 films
• 2000s drama films
• BAFTA winners (films)
• Biographical films
• British drama films
• Films about music and musicians
• Films set in England
• Films set in the 1970s
• Films set in the 1980s
• Joy Division
• Punk films
• Fiction narrated by a dead person