Line #29 Film/Control


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/34a498ad9696b199747b10f9f6eefeb6.jpg]]
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3	''Control'' is a 2007 {{biopic}} about Music/JoyDivision and its vocalist Ian Curtis, directed by former band photographer Creator/AntonCorbijn and starring Creator/SamRiley as Curtis. Its screenplay, written by Matt Greenhalgh, was adapted from ''Touching from a Distance'', a biography written by Curtis' widow, Deborah (played in the film by Creator/SamanthaMorton); she served as a co-producer on the film alongside Corbijn and former Creator/FactoryRecords head Tony Wilson (who died two months before the film's release, making it the last major project he worked on in his lifetime), among others.
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5	In Manchester during the second half of the '70s, aspiring poet and young newlywed Ian Curtis forms a punk band with a few friends after attending a Music/SexPistols concert. First calling themselves Warsaw, then Joy Division, they manage to weave their way into a record deal on nascent indie label Creator/FactoryRecords, whose eccentric producer Martin Hannett helps bring the band to popularity. However, while things appear to be looking up for the band, Ian's life is rapidly spiraling downhill; he develops epilepsy, which makes performing increasingly difficult, his marriage grows strained, and his battle with depression becomes more and more overwhelming. By the end of it all, he and everyone around him will see their lives radically upended.
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7	Corbijn already had a 24-year stint directing music videos before directing ''Control'', including one for the 1988 reissue of Joy Division's "Atmosphere", but this marks his first feature-length work that isn't a documentary (his only other feature film before this was a ConcertFilm for Music/DepecheMode). Similarly, this is possibly the only straight-up biopic about Curtis's life that isn't a documentary.
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9	[[SimilarlyNamedWorks No relation]] to the Music/JanetJackson [[Music/{{Control}} album]], the Creator/RemedyEntertainment [[VideoGame/{{Control}} game]], or the ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'' [[Fanfic/{{Control}} fanfiction]]. Compare ''Film/TwentyFourHourPartyPeople'', a more flippant biopic that focuses more broadly on [[Creator/FactoryRecords Joy Division's record label]] and the Manchester alternative scene as a whole.
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11	!! Tropes:
12	* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: It's implied that Debbie feels this way about Annik.
13	* AsHimself: Punk poet John Cooper Clarke portrays his younger self, performing his poem "Evidently Chickentown" as the opening act for a Joy Division concert.
14	* BreakupSong: "Love Will Tear Us Apart" is played after Curtis and his wife start to fall apart following his distance from her.
15	* BewareTheQuietOnes: Ian is usually quiet, but when's he's angry or yelling, he's ''scary.''
16	* TheCameo: Natalie Curtis, Ian's daughter, appears in the audience of the Derby Hall gig.
17	* ConvulsiveSeizures: Curtis was an epileptic, so this side of his life is also shown.
18	* CountryMatters: The band gets the attention of Creator/FactoryRecords head Tony Wilson with a note which simply states: "Joy Division, you cunt."
19	* CoverVersion: Sam Riley, Joe Anderson, James Anthony Pearson, and Harry Treadaway (as Ian Curtis, Peter Hook, Bernard Sumner, and Stephen Morris respectively) all do the songs in the scenes where Joy Division plays live or records. The songs are: "Leaders of Men", "She's Lost Control", "Transmission", "Insight", "Disorder", "Isolation", "Love Will Tear Us Apart", "Digital", "Dead Souls", and "Candidate".
20	** Music/TheKillers cover "Shadowplay" during the credits.
21	** Averted with "No Love Lost", and "Atmosphere", which were the original recordings by the real Joy Division.
22	* CultSoundtrack: Interestingly enough the soundtrack album has covers of the originals more than anything else.
23	* DeadpanSnarker: Peter Hook and Rob Gretton. So very much.
24	* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The film was originally shot in color, but converted to black and white in post to match the photos that director Anton Corbijn took of the actual members of Joy Division during the band's lifetime.
25	* DespairEventHorizon: After [[spoiler: Deborah doesn't return his feelings of staying with him, Ian sends her out which leads to a seizure. He recovers only to finally hit this point and commit suicide]].
26	* DoomedProtagonist: Everyone knows from the start that Ian Curtis eventually [[DrivenToSuicide committed suicide]].
27	* DownerEnding: Ian commits suicide and Deborah is left distraught as she has to raise their infant daughter alone.
28	* ForegoneConclusion: Everyone knows the story will end with Ian committing suicide.
29	* FromBadToWorse: The final Joy Division gig at Derby Hall, with Ian frequently ducking off stage in order to combat a worsening seizure, forcing Alan Hempstall of Crispy Ambulance to step in for him. The gig ends in a riot.
30	* HappilyMarried: Ian and Debbie, at first.
31	* MrFanservice:
32	** There's quite a few shots of Ian shirtless, mostly early in the film.
33	** Peter Hook's shirts are sometimes slightly unbuttoned as well, fitting the real Hook's longtime desire to be a rock star.
34	* NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity: In-universe. Tony tries to comfort Ian with this after the riot under FromBadToWorse, by saying the band's publicity will help them when they tour the US.
35	* OopNorth: The film takes place there, to the point where a still from this film is the page image.
36	* ParentalNeglect: Ian doesn't really spend much time with his daughter, Natalie. Then again, his epilepsy and commitment to the band makes it difficult.
37	* RayOfHopeEnding: [[spoiler: After Ian kills himself, the others are sitting sadly in a pub. Then, Gillian Gilbert shows up to comfort them. After she sits down the shot lingers on them.....showing the classic lineup for Music/NewOrder.]]
38	* {{Retirony}}: Played with. Ian commits suicide on the eve of the band's first US tour, which would have made them famous as ''Closer'' became a hit not long after his death.
39	* RunningGag: Ian and others are often making fun of Music/TheBuzzcocks's band name.
40	* SpurnedIntoSuicide: Ian kills himself after an argument with Debbie.
41	* TalentDouble: Averted by the actors. As previously stated above, they played the songs themselves, helped by there being plenty of ThreeChordsAndTheTruth songs. Sam Riley (who portrayed Curtis) having been the lead singer of a rock band once beforehand may have helped also.

Context Film / Control