''More'' is a 1969 English-language

romantic Romantic may refer to: Genres and eras * The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries ** Romantic music, of that era ** Romantic poetry, of that era ** Romanticism in science, of that e ...

drama film written and directed by

Barbet Schroeder Barbet Schroeder (born 26 August 1941) is an Iranian-born Swiss film director and producer who started his career in French cinema in the 1960s, working with directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and Jacques Rivette. Since the late 1980s, he has dire ...

in his directorial debut. Starring

Mimsy Farmer Merle "Mimsy" Farmer (born February 28, 1945) is an American actress, artist and sculptor. She began her career appearing in several Hollywood studio films, such as ''Spencer's Mountain'' (1963) and ''Bus Riley's Back in Town'' (1965), followed b ...

and Klaus Grünberg, the film deals with

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...

addiction as drug fascination on the island of

Ibiza Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its l ...

, Spain. Made in the political fallout of the 1960s counterculture, it features drug use, " free love", and other references to contemporary European youth culture. The screenplay was written by

Paul Gégauff Paul Gégauff (10 August 1922 – 24 December 1983) was a French screenwriter, actor, and director. He collaborated with director Claude Chabrol on 14 films. Among his films are ''Les Biches'', ''Plein Soleil'' and the autobiographical '' Une ...

and Barbet Schroeder with the original story by Schroeder. It features a soundtrack written and performed by the English rock band

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

, released as the album ''

More More or Mores may refer to: Computing * MORE (application), outline software for Mac OS * more (command), a shell command * MORE protocol, a routing protocol * Missouri Research and Education Network Music Albums * ''More!'' (album), by Booka ...

''. Schroeder's inspiration for the film came from the counterculture tradition of the 1960s with themes of drugs, addiction,

sexual freedom A sexual norm can refer to a personal or a social norm. Most cultures have social norms regarding sexuality, and define ''normal sexuality'' to consist only of certain sex acts between individuals who meet specific criteria of age, consanguinity ...

and the beauty of life often in New Wave films. Real drugs were used in scenes showing the use of

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...

, heroin, and LSD. Production began in 1968 with a low budget, and the film was partially funded by Jet Films and executive produced by Les Films du Losange. Upon its release on 4 August 1969, ''More'' garnered mostly negative reviews from critics. It was selected to be screened in the Cannes Classics section of the

2015 Cannes Film Festival The 68th Cannes Film Festival was held from 13 to 24 May 2015. Joel and Ethan Coen were the Presidents of the Jury for the main competition. It was the first time that two people chaired the jury. Since the Coen brothers each received a separate ...

. ''More'' was released on DVD on 5 April 2005 by

Home Vision Entertainment The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...

Plot

In West Germany in the late 1960s, Stefan has finished his mathematics studies and decides to experience life. Hitch-hiking to Paris, he is befriended by a petty criminal called Charlie, who takes him to a party where he is fascinated by an American girl called Estelle. Though Charlie warns him that she is a drug user and dangerous, he goes to her hotel room, where she introduces him to marijuana and they make love. She is leaving for Ibiza and invites Stefan to follow her there. When he arrives, he finds she is involved with a wealthy ex-Nazi called Wolf. Stefan persuades her to join him in an isolated villa and she secretly brings both money and a huge quantity of heroin she has stolen from Wolf. After an idyllic time swimming, sunbathing and making love, she is itching for the heroin and introduces him to it as well. Soon the two are on a downward spiral of addiction. Wolf demands return of the rest of the heroin and money and, as payment for what they have used, Stefan has to work in his bar while Estelle has to share his bed. Charlie comes looking for Stefan and urges him to return to Paris. Stefan begs two packets of heroin from a dealer and overdoses. As a suicide, he is buried in open country.

Cast

as Estelle Miller * Klaus Grünberg as Stefan Brückner * Heinz Engelmann as Dr. Ernesto Wolf * Michel Chanderli as Charlie * Henry Wolf as Henry * Louise Wink as Cathy

Production

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

. The castle of

, 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 Hotel La Lousiane is a Parisian hotel located at the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Prés at the intersection of rue de Buci and rue de Seine in the sixth arrondissement. It has a main entrance on 60, rue de Seine and a side entrance on 27 rue de Bu ...

in real room 36.

Music

The soundtrack to the film was composed and performed by English rock band

, and consists of instrumental compositions and more conventional songs, such as "

The Nile Song "The Nile Song", written by Roger Waters and sung by David Gilmour, is the second song from Pink Floyd's 1969 album ''More (soundtrack), More'', the soundtrack to More (1969 film), the film of the same name. It was released as a single in 1969 (o ...

", which (somewhat out of character for Pink Floyd) borders on Stooges-like heavy rock, and a ballad featuring bongos called "

Cymbaline "Cymbaline" is a Pink Floyd song from the album '' Soundtrack from the Film More''. Lyrics Its lyrics vividly tell the tale of a "nightmare", which was the title of the song when it was first introduced in Floyd's ''The Man and The Journey Tour' ...

", written by

Roger Waters George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. In 1965, he co-founded the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. Waters initially served as the bassist, but following the departure of singer-so ...

and performed by

David Gilmour David Jon Gilmour ( ; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined as guitarist and co-lead vocalist in 1967, shortly before the departure of founding member Syd Barrett. P ...

Release

Critical reception

Upon its release, ''More'' garnered mainly negative reviews from critics, and was controversially reviewed by audiences and scholars, who commented on the drug use and impacts. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has 4 reviews, 3 are negative. 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 Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

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."

Home media

The film was released on DVD by The Criterion Collection under

on 5 April 2005. A Blu-ray as a single disc variant with a single DVD disc version was released on 19 September 2011 by the British Film Institute.

References

External links

* * * * * * * * * {{Soundtrack from the Film More 1969 films 1969 romantic drama films French romantic drama films German romantic drama films Luxembourgian romantic drama films West German films 1960s English-language films Films about heroin addiction Films directed by Barbet Schroeder Films set in Ibiza Films shot in the Balearic Islands Films produced by Barbet Schroeder Films with screenplays by Paul Gégauff Pink Floyd films Films about cannabis English-language French films English-language German films English-language Luxembourgian films 1969 directorial debut films 1960s British films 1960s French films 1960s German films