More (1969 film)

More is an English-language drama-romance film written and directed by Barbet Schroeder, in his theatrical feature film directorial debut,[1][2] released in 1969. Starring Mimsy Farmer and Klaus Grünberg,[3] it deals with heroin addiction as drug fascination[4] on the island of Ibiza, Spain.[5][6] Made in the political fallout of the 1960s counterculture,[7] the film features drug experimentation,[8] "free love",[9] and other references to contemporary European youth culture.

More
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBarbet Schroeder
Produced byBarbet Schroeder
Screenplay by
Story byBarbet Schroeder
Starring
Music byPink Floyd
CinematographyNéstor Almendros
Edited by
  • Denise de Casabianca
  • Rita Roland
Production
company
Distributed by
Release date
  • October 21, 1969 (1969-10-21) (France)
  • August 4, 1969 (1969-08-04) (Worldwide)
Running time
117 minutes
CountryWest Germany
France
LanguageEnglish

The film screenplay was written by Paul Gégauff and Barbet Schroeder with the original story by Schroeder.[5] Art directed by Fran Lewis and Nestor Almendros. It features soundtracks written and performed by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released as the album More. Schroeder's inspiration for the film came from the counterculture tradition of the 1960s with themes of drugs, addiction, sexual freedom and the beauty of life often in New Wave films.[10][11] Real drugs were used in scenes showing the use of marijuana, heroin, and LSD. Production began in 1968, and the film was partially funded by Jet Films and executive produced by Les Films du Losange with a low budget.[1]

Upon its release on August 4, 1969, More achieved critical acclaim. It was selected to be screened in the Cannes Classics section of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.[12] On April 5, 2005, a DVD version of More, was released by Home Vision Entertainment.

Plot
Estelle (Mimsy Farmer) and Stefan (Klaus Grünberg) at the Ibiza island.

Stefan is a German student from Lübeck, who has finished his mathematics studies and decides to have an adventure to discard his personal commitments. After hitch-hiking to Paris, he makes friends with Charlie while playing cards in a Latin Quarter, at the hotel La Louisiane[13] round room 36, at the crossing of rue de Seine and rue de Buci, and they decide to commit a burglary to get some money. At a swinging Left Bank party, Stefan meets a free-spirited-beautiful but elusive American girl called Estelle and follows her to Ibiza. The two become lovers, with an atmosphere of easy sex, nude sunbathing and lots of drugs.

He discovers Estelle is involved with a former Nazi called Dr. Wolf. Borrowing a villa from a hippie, Stefan saves Estelle from Dr. Wolf only to find she does not really want to be saved, and she introduces him to heroin (referred to by the old street name, "horse"), which she has stolen from Dr. Wolf. Stefan is initially against Estelle using heroin, but having used it previously, she persuades him to try it. Soon Stefan and Estelle are both heavily addicted to heroin. They try to break the addiction using LSD and initially manage to stay clean.

However, after a while they are both using heroin again. Unable to break free of the addiction, it quickly spirals out of control leading to Stefan's death.

Cast

Production
One of the most beautiful, most lyrical and most remarkable films a young director has ever made about his generation.

—Henri Chapier - Combat, [14]

A major film à la Murnau that does not talk about drugs so much as show a certain way of meeting it.

—Serge Daney - Les cahiers du cinéma, [14]

The French film censorship board in 1969 insisted that some of the dialogue be censored around the 81-minute mark before the film could be released. In the film, as the couple mixes up a hallucinogenic concoction in the kitchen, the ingredients "benzedrine" and "banana peel" are deleted from the audio track. On the DVD the words have been re-added as subtitles.

Most of the movie was shot on the island of Ibiza. The castle of Ibiza, which dominates the harbour and the town, is the scene for the final act. A tunnel near the castle was also used in Paris, the movie was shot at Hotel La Louisiane[15] in real room 36.

Post-production

Music and soundtrack
Main article: More (soundtrack)
After experimenting with drugs in Ibiza.

His [Barbet Schroeder's] feeling about music for movies was, in those days, that he didn't want a soundtrack to go with the movie. All he wanted was, literally, if the radio was switched on in the car, for example, he wanted something to come out of the car. Or someone goes and switches the TV on, or whatever it is. He wanted the soundtrack to relate exactly to what was happening in the movie, rather than a film score backing the visuals.

— Roger Waters[16]

The soundtrack from the film More has some typical instrumental jams. "The Nile Song" which, quite out of character for Pink Floyd, borders on the Stooges-like heavy rock, and a ballad featuring bongos called "Cymbaline"; written by Roger Waters but performed by David Gilmour. In the film, when Estelle gets out of her bed in her apartment in Paris, she puts on a record and changes her clothes, shouts "Groovy!"[17]

Release

Critical reception

Upon its release, More garnered mainly negative reviews from film critics, and was controversially reviewed by audiences and scholars, who commented on the drug use and impacts. In later years, the film has since received critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has 4 reviews, 3 are negative.[18] At AlloCiné, which assigns a weighted mean rating to reviews, the film has a score of 3.7 based on 37 critics.

With regard to the film's overall design, Roger Ebert stated, "More is a weird, freaky movie about two hedonistic kids who destroy themselves with drugs. More precisely, it's about a kinky American girl who destroys her German boyfriend and in the process destroys herself ... The message seems to be: Sure, speed kills, but what a way to go."[19]

Home media

The film was released by The Criterion Collection under Home Vision Entertainment section on April 5, 2005; and a Blu-ray as a single disc variant with a single DVD disc version was released on September 19, 2011, from the British Film Institute.

See also

References
  1. Langman, Larry (2000). Destination Hollywood: The Influence of Europeans on American Filmmaking (illustrated ed.). McFarland. p. 60. ISBN 9780786406814. Retrieved October 21, 2017.
  2. "Barbet Schroeder and his film come to Ibiza". eliteserviceibiza.net. Elite Service Ibiza. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
  3. "More" (PDF). barbet-schroeder.com (PDF). Jet Films. 1969. Retrieved October 21, 2017.
  4. John R. May (1997). New Image of Religious Film (illustrated ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. p. 138. ISBN 9781556127618. Retrieved October 21, 2017.
  5. VINCENT CANBY (August 5, 1969). "'More', a Film of Love, Warmth and Inevitable Pain". The New York Times. Retrieved October 21, 2017.
  6. Thomas Sotinel (April 17, 2017). Jérôme Fenoglio (ed.). "Barbet Schroeder, un explorateur à la poursuite de démons familiers" [Barbet Schroeder, an explorer in search of familiar demons]. Le Monde (in Spanish). Retrieved October 21, 2017.
  7. Joanne Laurier (August 7, 2017). "Barbet Schroeder's Amnesia: The trauma of German history" (PDF). intsse.com (PDF). World Socialist Web Site. p. 1. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
  8. "More 1969". formidablemag.com. Formidable Mag. Retrieved October 21, 2017.
  9. Lennon, Elaine (November 2015). "The Mordant Geography of Desire in Barbet Schroeder's More (1969)". Offscreen. 19 (11). Retrieved October 22, 2017.
  10. Michael Witt, Michael Temple (January 3, 2008). The French Cinema Book (reprint ed.). Palgrave Macmillan. p. 186. ISBN 9781844575732. Retrieved October 21, 2017.
  11. "MORE". www.newwavefilm.com. NewWaveFilm.com. Retrieved November 4, 2017.
  12. "CANNES CLASSICS - Barbet Schroeder's More". Cannes Film Festival. 29 April 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  13. "The Mordant Geography of Desire in Barbet Schroeder's More (1969)". offscreen.com. Retrieved 2019-10-20.
  14. "More". filmsdulosange.fr. Les films du losange. Retrieved October 21, 2017.
  15. "The Mordant Geography of Desire in Barbet Schroeder's More (1969)". offscreen.com. Retrieved 2019-10-20.
  16. Kendall, Charlie (1984). "Shades of Pink - The Definitive Pink Floyd Profile". The Source Radio Show. Archived from the original on 2012-09-27. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
  17. Hoffman, Jordan (November 2, 2016). "Why Doctor Strange shares its psychedelic DNA with Pink Floyd". The Guardian. Retrieved October 21, 2017.
  18. "More (1969)". Rotten Tomatoes.
  19. Ebert, Roger (November 24, 1969). "More". rogerebert.com. RogerEbert.com. Retrieved October 6, 2017.

Further reading
  • "More" (PDF). barbet-schroeder.com (PDF). Jet Films. 1969.
  • Dawson, Jan (1970). Review of More in Monthly Film Bulletin, April 1970.
  • Kendall, Charlie (1984). "Shades of Pink - The Definitive Pink Floyd Profile". The Source Radio Show. Archived from the original on 2012-09-11. Retrieved 2011-07-26.}}
  • Schroeder, Barbet (1969). Transcription of interview with Schroeder by Noel Simsolo. Image et Son, courtesy of Les Films du Losange and included on the BFI DVD.
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