On the eve of the outbreak of Beatlemania in 1963, John Lennon took a short holiday to Barcelona with manager Brian Epstein. Christopher Munch’s thoughtful and provocative film speculates on what might have happened on that brief escape from the spotlight, an intriguing portrait of an often awkward relationship, handled with a subtlety rarely seen in standard biopic fare.
Framed in monochrome and running under an hour, it’s almost a chamber piece; heavy on dialogue and debate, the central theme of Epstein’s unrequited love is more nuanced than nudgenudge. David Angus presents him as a scholarly, self-conscious and troubled gay man, pitiful rather than predatory. Ian Hart’s Lennon is, at turns, tender, aggressive, mocking and prone to mood swings. His treatment of Epstein veers from respect to ridicule and back again in seconds, as does his behaviour toward a dolly-bird air hostess and wife Cynthia, phoning from England.
Hart is utterly convincing, the voice and mannerisms near perfect. But Munch’s study of sexual uncertainty would still have worked had it not focused on a pair of celebrities, and his deft handling of the material coupled with a keen eye for detail reaped rewards when the movie walked off with prizes at the Sundance and Berlin film festivals.
