A COMPLETE UNKNOWN

January 17, 2025

timothée chalamet, edward norton, elle fanning, monica barbaro, james mangold

Words by JANE CROWTHER


Bob Dylan has purposefully been an enigma for decades and James Mangold’s traditional biopic of a small window of his life doesn’t try to answer any questions about the troubadour – rather it unpicks the ambient influence swirling around the 19 year-old when he arrives in New York from Minnesota and takes the folk scene by storm. Kicking off in 1961, Mangold tracks Dylan from his beginnings through to stardom and up to the point when he ‘betrays’ folk music by plugging in an electric guitar at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. The director admits that not everything in the film happened exactly as depicted (and apparently Dylan himself asked for a completely invented scene to be added to further fox audiences), but the result is an accomplished primer for newcomers to Dylan and an account that won’t irritate diehard fans.

timothée chalamet, edward norton, elle fanning, monica barbaro, james mangold

Bob (Timothée Chalamet) first pitches up in NY in search of his hero, Woody Guthrie. Discovering the musician is critically ill in hospital, the wannabe visits him – the first time in many that Dylan puts his needs ahead of others. Woody (Scoot McNairy) is being cared for by the nicest man in folk, Pete Seeger (Edward Norton, emanating kindness) who takes the young songwriter under his wing. Dylan, still a gangly youth, impresses him as well as established folk star, Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro), setting him off on a meteoric rise to fame, prolific record making and a love triangle with Baez and Sylvie (Elle Fanning playing a thinly disguised version of Suze Rotolo). As Bob writes – and cheats and is selfish to the point that Baez tells him he’s an asshole – the world changes and informs his music; the desperation of the Cuban missile crisis, the freedom rides, Martin Luther King… The times, they are a-changing.

timothée chalamet, edward norton, elle fanning, monica barbaro, james mangold

Chalamet had five years to perfect guitar, harmonica and Dylan’s scratchy vocals and his renditions of the classics are both spot-on and still retain an element of himself within them. As Dylan’s hair gets bigger and his jeans skinnier (via evocative costumes by Hollywood Authentic columnist, Arianne Phillips), Chalamet and Dylan infuse so that by the time he’s riding motorbikes around and behaving with the insouciance of a rock star brat, the transformation is entirely convincing. Similarly, Barbaro nails Baez’s sweet voice and zero BS attitude and Boyd Holbrook threatens to steal the show every time he shows up as sozzled man in black, Johnny Cash.

timothée chalamet, edward norton, elle fanning, monica barbaro, james mangold

The highlight of the film is undoubtedly the ‘going electric’ moment at the ‘65 Newport Festival when, having watched Dylan do exactly as he pleases throughout his interactions, there’s a rebellious thrill in watching him purposefully plug into an amp in front of a horrified audience of acoustic fans. Once again, we’re not treated to any interior motivation to Dylan’s actions, ensuring he’s still a delicious enigma – a man who despite the biopic treatment, remains a riddle – as the title suggests, a complete unknown.


Words by JANE CROWTHER
A Complete Unknown is in cinemas now

TRENDING

Christopher McQuarrie, Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning, Simon Pegg, Tom Cruise, Greg Williams, Hollywood Authentic

SIMON PEGG

Mission: Impossible’s tech nerd tells Hollywood Authentic about his directorial dreams, DJing and what he’s learnt from Tom Cruise.

BUY

You may also like…

paolo sorrentino, parthenope, celeste dalla porta, daniele rienzo, gary oldman, silvio orlando

PAOLO SORRENTINO

CANNES DISPATCH 16 …Words by JANE CROWTHERPhotographs by GREG WILLIAMS ‘This movie is the celebration of the journey of my life,’ Neapolitan writer-director Paolo Sorrentino told the audience at the Cannes premiere of his latest, Parthenope, as he recalled the reception he’d had at the Riviera festival two decades earlier. In fact, his first time at the

Billie Lourd, Dave Bautista, Gia Coppola, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kirnan Shipna, Pamela Anderson, The Last Showgirl

THE LAST SHOWGIRL

The Last Showgirl explores the liminal moment that women age out, lose relevance in a world driven by youth, beauty, novelty. 

Babylon, Kaia Gerber, Mother Mary, Outcome, Palm Royale, Shell

KAIA GERBER

Kaia Gerber’s nails tell the story of her life. When I meet her at her Hollywood Hills home on a sunny Saturday in February