Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.
The Velvet Goldmine (1998) Directed by Todd Haynes
"Ha! Nothing makes one so vain as being told one is a sinner!" Brian Slade.
This is a story of Glitter, that child of the sexual revolution that wedged itself between the Flower Children and the Punk Rockers. The story is held together, if at all, by two things. The first is a pin, emerald and antique gold, that was the only birth legacy of Oscar Wilde.
It passed through history to a little boy named Jack Fairy. (Micko Westmoreland) True to the auspices of his name, Jack was a bit different; he was truly an original artist. As was said later, everybody stole from Jack.
The other tie that binds is Arthur Stewart (Christian Bale). Son of middle class conservative parents, Arthur can feel something inside of him ulcerating to be free, to breathe and grow and be. What that is, he is not really sure, not until he encounters one of our heroes.
Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) was a pop idol. As his persona Maxwell Demond, he was a space creature come to earth and now living as a rock and roll messiah. The persona worked. And its earliest birth was in Brian meeting (at least....) Jack Fairy. It was Jack who gave him the emerald pin...
Brian had a lovely wife Mandy, (Toni Collette) who was as delighted in decadence as Brian. One wonders what her father did to deserve such a dedicated effort at punishment... He also gained a manager, Cecil (Michael Feast) who loved him, but his career really took off when he got a manager who loved money; Jerry Devine (Eddie Izzard).
But things really got interesting when he met the love of his life, Curt Wild (Ewan McGregor). Shirtless, occasionally pantless, with infinite energy, and limited discretion, Curt draws Brian like a moth to a flame.
And in the age of glam rock, bisexuality was not only accepted, it was expected. And a visible affair between two men, between two rock idols...the media ate it up.
So did Arthur. At last his longing has spoken its name. He hides his glam clothes under working class coats until he is away from the flat. He masturbates to Brian's album covers. He dreams of telling his parents "That's me! That's Me Right There!" as Curt and Brian kiss on the telly. He was liberated vicariously through their exploits....
Years later, long after Maxwell Demond's staged death and his subsequent meteoric fall, Arthur is a journalist given the assignment to do a "Where are they now?" piece on Brian Slade.
Brian knows the players, and his investigations open many doors; he learns far more about his idols; their courtship, their rise, their inevitable fall. The story moves non linear...history is served up at the rate and in the order of whoever is telling the tale. In here, the emerald passed as a love gift from Brian to Curt.
But fame and excess take their toll; many men can handle adversity. Far fewer can deal with having their every wish fulfilled. Drugs, touring, extravagance and jealousy all took their toll. In the words of Mandy, "Now, just because someone sees, you know, two naked people asleep in bed together, it doesn't necessarily prove sex was involved. It does, however, make for a very strong case."
And like Cecil before her, Mandy found herself left like a shed skin as Brian outgrew her.
Here in lies a Spoiler Alert.
Things begin to click into place; as Curt and Brian disintegrated, the mock assassination was cooked up to end the tour. And the most important night of Arthur's life, the night he and Curt hooked up...the night he lost his virginity, was in the wake of their break up.
This makes the reunion ten years later more poignant. Did Curt recognize him? For Arthur it was a pivotal moment in his life...for Curt, it was another groupie on the rooftops. But then Curt passes along the Emerald Pin...
Thus Ends the Spoiler.
This production is like shattered haiku; scenes of breath taking beauty; brief, self contained, but how exactly do they string together? The story wanders far afield, like a jigsaw in stained glass, pretty, shiny, but the picture only begins to form as more and more pieces are fitted together.
Still, I find it well worth the effort. Not only do you have Christian Bale naked, Jonathon Rhys-Meyers naked, and Ewan McGregor, not only naked, but full frontal, and with both his costars...well, needless to say, it is one of my favorites.
But puerile pornographic concerns aside, I love it for a very simple reason. Arthur. I lived that life. Okay, my parents were slightly cooler than his, but I know what it is like to feel that the thing that makes you the most alive is something that has to be hidden. The tender desperation of his expression looking at the album cover of Brian Slade; I know that longing. I think at some point, we all do.
They say this is based on David Bowie, (certainly the music bears a certain stamp) and Curt is an amalgamation of Iggy Pop and Lou Reed. If that is the case, then remember this, like Glitter, this story has been made up and redressed until it is almost unrecognizable. Remember, "Rock and Roll is a prostitute, it should be tarted up."
Starring Ewan McGregor (Star Wars: Episode 1, Trainspotting) and Jonathan Rhys Meyers (The Governess, Michael Collins)--executive producer Michael Sti...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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