Watch unlimited films online for $6.99.
Try MUBI for FREE.
Learn More
 

Control

United Kingdom, United States, Japan, Australia

2007

122 Min
Black and White
2.35:1
English
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

   |   

DIR Anton Corbijn

EXEC Iain Canning, Lizzie Francke, Akira Ishii, Korda Marshall

PROD Anton Corbijn, Todd Eckert, Orian Williams

SCR Deborah Curtis, Matt Greenhalgh

DP Martin Ruhe

CAST Sam Riley, Samantha Morton, Alexandra Maria Lara, Joe Anderson, James Anthony Pearson, Harry Treadaway, Craig Parkinson, Toby Kebbell

ED Andrew Hulme

PROD DES Chris Roope

MUSIC Joy Division

Cannes (Quinzaine des Réalisateurs): Caméra d'Or - Special Mention, Prix Regards Jeune, Label Europa Cinemas, Toronto (Vanguard), Edinburgh (British Gala): Best New British Film, Best British Performance, San Sebastián (Zabaltegi-Pearls), Melbourne: Most Popular Feature Film, Stockholm (Competition): Honorable Mention, Chicago (International Competition): Best Actor

Synopsis

Ian Curtis is a quiet and rather sad lad who works for an employment agency and sings in a band called Warsaw. He meets a girl named Debbie whom he promptly marries and his band, of which the name in the meantime has been changed to Joy Division, gets more and more successful. Even though Debbie and he become parents, their relationship is going downhill rapidly and Ian starts an affair with Belgium Annik whom he met after one of the gigs and he’s almost never at home. Ian also suffers from epilepsy and has no-good medication for it. He doesn’t know how to handle the feelings he has for Debbie and Annik and the pressure the popularity of Joy Division and the energy performing costs him. —IMDb

Director

Original

Anton Corbijn

Anton Corbijn (Dutch pronunciation: [kɔrˈbɛin]; born 20 May 1955) is a Dutch photographer, music video and film director. He is the creative director behind the visual output of Depeche Mode and U2, having handled the principal promotion and sleeve photography for both for more than a decade. Some of his works include music videos for Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence” (1990) and Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box” (1993), as well as the Ian Curtis biopic Control.

Corbijn made his feature film debut with Control, a film about the life of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis. It premiered to rave reviews at the Cannes Film Festival on 17 May 2007. The film is based on Deborah Curtis’ book Touching From a Distance about her late husband and the biography Torn Apart by Lindsay Reade (Tony Wilson’s ex-wife) and Mick Middles. Although shown outside the Palme d’Or competition, Control was the big winner of the Director’s Fortnight winning the CICAE Art &… read more

Wall

Displaying 4 of 49 wall posts.
see all
Picture of Laura G.

Laura G.

22May12

heart and soul

chanandre and Nuno André Silva like this

Picture of Matt Burgess

Matt Burgess

21May12

Fucking amazing music (obvs) and stark black and white cinematography (every shot looks like an iconic album cover) but it takes a while to really get going and can be pretty dull and uninvolving. Sam Riley is incredible throughout though.

Brad Barschow

7May12

Must see film, brilliant, one of my favorite biopics I have ever seen.

Brad Barschow likes this

Picture of DK

DK

23Apr12

Woo. Let's further fetishize Curtis's suicide by making his life look like an old Calvin Klein ad.

nel likes this

Related Films

Fans

Displaying 5 of 2517 fans.
see all

Emanuel​a Zocco

Picture of Ekaterina Dyatlova

Ekateri​na Dyatlov​a

Picture of Sarah

Sarah

Picture of Tess_in_the_sky

Tess_in​_the_sk​y

Picture of GuyfromNewcastle

Guyfrom​Newcast​le

Articles

Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.
W184

pages from a cold island: MODERN HISTORY

By Neil Young on December 23, 2009

Above: Henner Winckler's School Trip. Compiling a top ten European films of the decade is a tricky business—what do we mean by "European

read article
W184

The Auteurs Daily: Best of the British

By David Hudson on August 30, 2009

  The Observer Film Magazine poll that gives us a list of the "best British films" of the last 25 years can only be described as informal

read article

Cannes Report: Control Review

By Twitchfilm.com on May 17, 2011
You will be forgiven if you were expecting Anton Corbijn’s Control to be a vapid exercise in style over substance. After all if you take one of the world’s most in-demand music video directors and set
→ read on Twitchfilm.com

Cannes Report: Control Review

By Twitchfilm.net on July 16, 2010
You will be forgiven if you were expecting Anton Corbijn’s Control to be a vapid exercise in style over substance. After all if you take one of the world’s most in-demand music video directors and set
→ read on Twitchfilm.net

Lists

Displaying 5 of 276 lists.
see all

Reviews

Displaying 4 of 7
see all | write a review

Tight Lipped - 3.5 Stars

By lolo341 on November 27, 2011

It’s important to note that Control isn’t a biopic of the band but the story of Ian Curtis. Based on his wife Deborah’s book, the movie is an interesting portrait of a young artist whose story has…  read review

Control

By Tony Paulett​o on March 3, 2010

Finite storytelling. Anton Corbijn assuredly masters the visual dramatization of Ian Curtis’ tragedy with simplistic neo-realism. He also assumes a documentarian role, allowing for some beautifully…  read review

Untitled

By Mugino on November 27, 2009

I am at a loss as to how best to rate a film such as this. It has many strengths yet the overall impact it had on me was probably not what the filmmakers intended.

The obligatory inclusion…  read review

Untitled

By Law on November 17, 2009

An excellent debut film by Anton Corjibin that I am greatly partial towards because I am a fan of Ian Curtis and mesmerising photography. Not a typical biopic and not a blind worship of Curtis, Control…  read review

Forum

Displaying 1 discussion topic.
start new topic  |  see all

"The American" trailer

6 posts by 5 people about 2 years ago