On March 19, 1962, the folk music world was introduced to Bob Dylan in his debut album and since then he has been an enigma to most, if not all. He grew to become one of the most famous and influential people in rock and roll, creating some of the most important songs in music history.
The movie, “A Complete Unknown,” truly captures the essence of the complicated life of Dylan who is portrayed by Timothee Chalamet. The movie, which was sourced from the book “Dylan Goes Electric” by Elijah Wald, shows the transition of Bob Dylan from the acoustic folk scene into the electric new age rock and roll.
The movie portrays the complicated life of Dylan and his infamous relationships. The movie covers only two of those relationships due to the span of the movie taking place from 1961 to 1965. The two loves shown in this four-year period are with Joan Baez who is portrayed by Monica Barbaro and Sylvie Russo who is portrayed by Elle Fanning. However, Russo is not a real person but based on Suze Rotolo. Rotolo’s name was not used in the movie because Dylan wanted to preserve her memory. While Dylan was not personally involved in the film’s making, he did request for Rotolo’s name to be changed.
According to rollingstone.com, “Fanning says Dylan didn’t want her character to be named after Rotolo, because she was ‘a very private person and didn’t ask for this life. She was obviously someone that was very special and sacred to Bob.”
The character Russo is the same as Rotolo with the only difference being the name. Both are creative artists and worked for the Congress of Racial Equality. Rotolo was very involved in politics and civil rights.
Though the movie does not go far in depth into her life, Rotolo is truly one of the factors that gave the world the Bob Dylan everyone knows. It was reported by Rolling Stone that Rotolo was the person that brought out Dylan’s political ventures and inspired many songs on his album “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.”
According to forbes.com, “Rotolo reveals moments of joy and connection but also delves into periods of estrangement, such as when she left for Europe in 1962, triggering Dylan’s feelings of abandonment and resulting in songs like ‘Tomorrow Is a Long Time,’ ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright’ and ‘Boots of Spanish Leather.”
The second women discussed in “A Complete Unknown” was Baez. In real life, Baez and Dylan had a very complicated relationship. The two were both pioneers of the folk scene in the 60s until Dylan went to electric rock and roll.
Baez told nypost.com about Barbaro playing her in “A Complete Unknown.” ‘“I loved what she did in the film,” the singer gushed to the Journal. “If I didn’t think she was good at it, I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it in general. But she looked enough like me and she had my gestures down. You could tell who it was. She worked so hard. Kudos to her for taking the role on.”’
Though that is just scratching the surface of the movie and the elusive life of Dylan, the movie encapsulates the first few years of his music career very well according to the rates given. The film has rated at 81% for critics and 96% for general audiences according to rottentomatoes.com.
