The 2007 biographical film about Ian Curtis starring Sam Riley is Control.
Directed by photographer Anton Corbijn, Control follows Ian Curtis, the singer and lyricist of the English post-punk band Joy Division. Sam Riley plays Curtis, while Samantha Morton portrays his wife, Deborah Curtis. The story covers Curtis’s marriage, the formation of Joy Division, his epilepsy and the personal pressures surrounding the band’s rapid rise.
The film is based primarily on Deborah Curtis’s memoir Touching from a Distance. Corbijn had photographed Joy Division during the band’s early years, giving the project an unusually direct connection to its subject. Control was filmed in color and printed in black and white to evoke the mood of the period and Corbijn’s photographic style.
The title refers to Joy Division’s song “She’s Lost Control,” as well as Curtis’s struggle with illness and circumstances he could not master. It is distinct from 24 Hour Party People, another film involving Joy Division, which focuses more broadly on Manchester’s music scene and Factory Records.