"Nico, 1988": A Biopic Worthy of Its Beautiful, Enigmatic Subject
It means a lot to me that the only two theatrical releases I saw in July, both excellent, were directed by women: first Deborah Granik's "Leave No Trace," and then Susanna Nicchiarelli's "Nico, 1988." When I arrived in Los Angeles with filmmaking ambitions in 1989, any untried young male had a better chance of directing than the most qualified woman, and screenplays by women were generally rejected because they didn't appeal to the coveted 14-year-old boy demographic. Thus it's gratifying to see that women directors are now being given a chance, and even some money, to make their films.
I had no particular expectations of "Nico, 1988," though I was very interested in its tragic subject. For those unfamiliar with Nico, she began as a teenage model and actress in the late 1950's but achieved her greatest fame as an Andy Warhol Factory girl in the mid-late 1960's. During those years, she starred in some of Warhol's films (notably "Chelsea Girls") but more importantly reinvented herself as a musician, singing with the Velvet Underground and making important connections in the music world--not only with Lou Reed but Bob Dylan and Jim Morrison. Two of her early hits, "These Days," and "The Fairest of the Seasons," were written for her by the teenage Jackson Browne, and decades later brought Nico a new audience and respect when Wes Anderson used them in "The Royal Tenenbaums."
I was a young child when Nico first appeared on the scene, and can remember the universally low regard she enjoyed as a performer. The general opinion was that Warhol paired her with the Velvet Underground solely for her looks, which happened to be spectacular: long blond hair, huge green eyes, high cheekbones, bee stung lips. Nico's singing voice--low, droning and German-accented--was compared to a foghorn, which was not a compliment. The only critic I know of who saw beyond her Teutonic pulchritude was Richard Goldstein of the Village Voice, who wrote, "She sings in perfect mellow ovals. It sounds like a cello getting up in the morning." (Nevertheless, he made a point of calling her "half goddess, half icicle.")
By the opening of "Nico, 1988," Warhol's goddess is unrecognizable. Pushing fifty, she's a longtime heroin addict with a heavier frame, rotting teeth, bad skin and dark hair. Living badly in Manchester and performing in tiny clubs, she's a has-been. Though the only similarity between the current Nico and the old is her bangs, all she's ever asked about is her Warhol-Velvet Underground days. Steering interviews toward her current music is as difficult as turning a cargo ship, but she never stops trying. "Call me Christa," she says at one point, but almost no one ever uses her real name. Nevertheless, it's not all bad. Nico has continued to write and record music, and her new songs have a power Lou Reed never guessed at. Her performing style has evolved, too: no longer a laconic mannequin, she belts out "Janitor of Lunacy" like the punk rocker she is.
Nico has a manager of sorts, Richard (John Gordon Sinclair), a club owner who is secretly in love with her. Richard soon takes her on the road with her marginally talented band, cramming everyone into a Land Rover for a European tour of unmatched grottiness. After some dispiriting dates in France and Italy, they go to Prague for what turns out to be an illegal concert. Worse yet, there's no heroin. Nevertheless, Nico gives an electrifying performance before the police arrive, forcing the entire group to flee for the border. Around this time, Nico is also reunited with her son (by Alain Delon) Ari (Sandor Funtek), who by his mid-twenties has followed his mother into heroin addiction and suicide attempts. Improbably, they both embark on methadone treatment and, when the film ends in the summer of 1988, seem to be recovering.
Nico is wonderfully played by the Danish actress Trine Dyrholm, who manages to sound exactly like her when she sings. Unfortunately, Dyrholm looks nothing like Nico apart from her hair, and Nicchiarelli makes no attempt to increase the resemblance. Still, the film is beautiful, its dream-like qualities enhanced by Jonas Mekas's footage of Warhol, the Velvet Underground and the real Nico. Archival footage is sometimes a distraction, but in "Nico 1988" it slips in effortlessly, before evaporating like the gorgeous memory it is.