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Directed by Todd Haynes
U.K./U.S.A.  1998.  122 m.

    Originally intended to be a biopic of musician David Bowie’s life, this film explores the seventies musical phenomenon known as glam rock through Brian Slade (played by Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), a fictional, albeit Bowie-esque, character.  The film follows Slade’s life and career through the perspective of those who knew him best.
    It begins with his youth, his start as a musician the world was not yet ready for, his rise to fame as the leader of a musical (and sexual) revolution, his downfall due to drug use, and his disappearance, having faked his own death.  Years later, reporter Arthur Stuart (Christian Bale) interviews Slade’s ex-manager and ex-wife, Mandy Slade (Toni Collette), as well as his friend/musical collaborator/lover Curt Wild (played by Ewan McGregor in this role based on the lives of Iggy Pop and Lou Reed [yet with eerie allusions to late grunge rock icon Kurt Cobain]), hoping to find clues as to Brian Slade’s current whereabouts.  The film is told through flashbacks, in a style reminiscent of Citizen Kane, as each person reveals a side of Brian previously hidden to the public, and leads Stuart closer to the real truth.
    This film discusses many of the issues associated with stardom in general, but it also tackles certain subjects that were particularly important to the era of the time, notably the questioning of sexual identity.  Glam rock blurred the lines between man and woman, gay and straight.  It allowed the stars of the time and their followers to experiment with bisexuality and homosexuality, and in that sense created a pop-culture sexual revolution.
    In the film, Brian Slade experiments with bisexuality as a youth, then incorporates his open sexual identity into his early, folky act, wearing a dress on stage.  Eventually, he creates a look that has gone on to define glam: glittery makeup, outrageous clothing, platform shoes… While this look may have shocked society at the time, it was the implied openness and awareness of sexual experimentation reflected in this flamboyant way of dressing that was considered truly scandalous.
    As the film states, the "peace and love generation" of the hippie 60s created a moral revolution by going against all the accepted social and economic mores and values of the previous generation, while still embodying overtly ‘macho’ ideals.  In fact, it was the glam rock movement that, at least in a trendy, pop-culture way, paved the road for the liberation of homosexual and bisexual people in popular culture and mainstream society.  It introduced personal experimentation and awareness into mainstream consciousness, and led the way for the open acceptance of bisexuality, homosexuality and all its variations in contemporary society.
    Another issue dealt with in Velvet Goldmine is drug use, and its effects on entertainers.  Though the film does not dwell on the drug use of its characters, it is suggested that Brian Slade’s downfall was due in part to his spiraling down into cocaine addiction.  This is a story that is common to many popular actors and musicians of this day and age, and which has lead to the destruction of many brilliant creative minds.
    This film, however, treats the presence of drugs in the entertainment industry as a matter of course, as it has in fact become in recent years.  Many artists resort to drugs as a coping mechanism for what is often instantaneous, overnight fame, as is the case with Brian Slade.  As his relationship and musical collaboration with Curt Wild sours, Brian retreats from his persona and the fame that he has created and which is now engulfing him, and turns to cocaine as a way in which to fill the void  he now perceives.  After having hit rock bottom, Brian finds himself at a loss in his life and his career, and calls off the rest of his tour by faking his own assassination during one of his concerts.
    This film also discusses the notion of reinvention, an idea that was at the core of the glam rock phenomenon.  Along with the makeup and the clothes, glam stars took on new identities and new names.  Their songs alluded to this idea of personal creation, of becoming an entirely artificial persona.
    Likewise, glam rock encouraged its fans to make themselves over in their own image, to ignore the conventions and limitations of everyday life, and break through the boundaries of conventionality to become their own character, their own personage.  The clothes and the makeup were simply trappings used in order to facilitate the birth (or rebirth) of one’s personality.  Glam rock attempted to use artifice to redefine reality on it’s own terms.
    In the film, Brian Slade, rock star, becomes Maxwell Demon, an alter-ego who acts as a mirror of the evil, demonic side of his own personality.  Brian Slade cuts records as Maxwell Demon, and tours as him, giving himself over to the creative impulses of this other side of himself.  Towards the end of the film, we see the lines between Brian Slade and his Maxwell Demon character become blurred, and it is implied that Slade has given himself over to the side of his personality whose excesses are creating his downfall.
    The idea of personal reinvention took an ironic backlash, for, as with many facets of the entertainment business, what started off as the personal creative expression of one individual soon became a fashion trend, as is illustrated in the film as Brian Slade appears on "Top of the Pops" in glittery makeup, and "the next day, every schoolgirl in London was wearing glitter eye makeup."  What was originally a vehicle for self-expression suddenly became an iconic fashion trend, one that continues to be revisited to this day.
    In conclusion, the film Velvet Goldmine explores certain themes that have only been explored today as a result of the freedom that contemporary cinema has allowed filmmakers.  The discussion of sexual identity and expression, of drug use, and of personal creation and reinvention, as well as the nudity and sexual subject matter would not and could not ever have been shown in early studio produced films.  This film embodies the experimental, inventive qualities that have come to distinguish contemporary cinema.