A Complete Unknownisthe latest in a phenomenon of sweeping musical biopics. This time, the subject is the elusive Bob Dylan, a monolith of folk, rock, and counterculture.Directed by James Mangold, director of the classic Johnny Cash biopicWalk the Line(2005), the story of one of music’s most controversial songwriters has already become Searchlight’s highest-grossing movie ever. Oscar-nominee Timothée Chalamet shoulders the weight of this colossal legacy, starring as Dylan and performing all the music.
A Complete Unknownfocuses primarily on Dylan’s early days, featuring his relationships with otherinfluential figures such as Joan Baez, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Woody Guthrie. As such,A Complete Unknownexamines what it means to get your big break and how it can compromise your values and relationships. How doesA Complete Unknownend, and how does it serve its larger meaning?
A Brief Recap ofA Complete Unknown
The year is 1961. Bob Dylan moves to New York City without much more than a guitar to his name. He manages to find Woody Guthrie, folk music legend and Dylan’s personal hero, at a hospital where Guthrie is being treated for Huntington’s Disease. There, he also meets Guthrie’s friend and other folk music giant, Pete Seeger (Ed Norton). Dylan plays them an original called “Song for Woody,” and Seeger is so impressed he invites Dylan to stay with his family and begins mentoring him. Seeger introduces Dylan to the New York folk scene, where he impresses agents and, fatefully, meets fellow singer-songwriter Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro). Eventually, Dylan signs a record deal. However, unwilling to gamble on a new young voice, the label insists that Dylan’s first record mostly covers as opposed to original songs.
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WhenDylan meets Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning), a young activist, she encourages him to release his own music – songs that have the potential to change the world around him. The two begin dating and eventually move in together. Eventually, Sylvie leaves for a long trip to Europe for school. Before she leaves, Sylvie and Dylan fight, and she admits that, despite living with him, she does not feel like she knows him or his past. While Sylvie is gone, the Cuban Missile Crisis occurs. During a night of chaos, Joan and Dylan are driven into each other’s arms. They begin a romantic affair and start collaborating as musicians once Joan finds some of Dylan’s unreleased songs by his bedside. This collaboration causes Dylan to launch into fame. The high-profile nature of Dylan’s relationship with Joan causes strain upon Sylvie’s return, and the couple separate.
Now that Dylan’s star has risen, he anguishes over his place in the industry. He yearns to be a true artist and not be confined by a mold, but folk traditionalists like Seeger and the runners of the Newport Folk Festival, a prominent but fledgling annual concert, insist he plays music that adheres to their values. On tour with Baez, Dylan publicly refuses to play one of his greatest hits, “Blowin' in the Wind,” and storms off-stage. He begins exploring a new electric rock sound, much to the chagrin of his management team and his fans. Seeger beseeches him to play one last nice acoustic concert at the expense of everything he has built.Johnny Cash, who Dylan has been exchanging letters with, encourages him to play his new music and, “track mud on somebody’s carpet.” Dylan does so at the Newport festival that year, nearly inciting a riot.
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After playing a controversial set of rock songs at Newport Festival where he was met with booing, heckling, and violence, Dylan ends with an acoustic song to appease the crowd. Then, with iconic sunglasses on, he leaves without uttering a word to Joan, Pete, Johnny, or any of the people that have made him. Dylan goes to visit Guthrie in the hospital one last time, playing his harmonica for him and giving him a knowing, loving touch on the face. Then, he rides out of town on his motorcycle, alone. A traditional set of biopic-esque title cards then tell us about the illustrious career Dylan would go on to have.
They note that Dylan is the only songwriter to have received the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature, and that he “did not attend the ceremony.” These are the last words left on screen asA Complete Unknownfades to black. This ending captures a lot of what we know about Dylan, and of the specific elements of his spiritA Complete Unknownset out to depict. He was enigmatic, brooding, a flight risk. Dylan cared foremost about his music and often let personal relationships fall to the wayside, or at least that is the person conveyed in the film. This complements the figure “unknown” in popular culture who was constantly going against the grain. He sacrificed his position as a folk hero for what he believed was a greater artistic good.
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The ending ofA Complete Unknownencapsulates all these ideas in a nutshell. Dylan does not want to be known personally; he has abandoned his past and intends to continue moving forward with little regard for what he leaves behind. Yet, he still returns to the man who made it all happen for him, Guthrie. He may owe his career to Seeger or Baez, but he owes his soul to Guthrie. With one last musical moment shared, Dylan bids farewell to the essence of what inspired him most in this era of his life. Then, as he is bound to do, he rides off into the sunset to follow his own whims. With the following overt message to the audience via title cards that reminds viewers how much Dylan rejected institution,A Complete Unknown’s ending makes clear that he was truly like a “rolling stone.“A Complete Unknownis currently playing in theaters everywhere.
A Complete Unknown
