More

A film by Barbet Schroeder

Barbet Schroeder – Maîtresse (1976), Barfly (1987), Reversal of Fortune (1990) – directed More, his first feature, in 1969. It created a sensation when it was released and became a cult 60s classic.

This dark tale, based on a true story, follows the naive Stefan (Klaus Grunberg) in his pursuit of offbeat American Estelle (Mimsy Farmer) to the island paradise of Ibiza. He leads a seemingly idyllic life with her by the sea – where the scenic beauties and delights of LSD and nude sunbathing are fully revealed by Nestor Almendros’s stunning photography – before succumbing to the destructive trappings of heroin addiction.

Schroeder was conscious that in the climate of the time some might see the film as moralising against drugs but he was adamant that this was not his aim. In a 1969 interview*, he described More as “the story of someone who sets out on a quest for the Sun and who is not sufficiently armed to carry it through successfully… I did not want to deal with the drug problem; I used drugs in relationship to the characters. Drugs only interfere as an element in a destruction, only as a motor in a sadomasochistic relationship between a boy and a girl… If my film is against anything, it is against attachments, illusions, selfishness, egotism, alienation… I have no compassion for my hero. Someone who destroys himself is very unattractive to me.”

The film is famous for its subdued, moody Pink Floyd soundtrack, featuring some of the band’s most spontaneous and eclectic work – including Green is the Colour, Cymbaline and The Nile Song.

* (with Noel Simsolo, (c) Image et Son)