I didn't find it as terrible as some people. It's really a chronicle of the times (1967). Klaus Grünberg is an innocent young German lad who meets the American girl Mimsy Farmer at a party in Paris. The chief reason they're there is so that Grünberg's good friend, Michel Chanderli, can sneak into the bedroom where all the coats have been flung and go through the pockets looking for money. That's how poor the two of them are.
But, having met Farmer, Grünberg is struck with her and pursues her to the paradisiacal island of Ibiza, where he finds her somehow mixed up with a vaguely genial Landsmann named Wolf. The sun is blazing, the buildings are white, the scenery magnificent, and the descent into the maelstrom begins. First she introduces him to "pot." He kind of likes it. Grünberg and Farmer sneak away from the town and from Wolf, and relocate to a mountaintop retreat where she reluctantly involves him in "horse" -- that is heroin -- showing him how to cook it and how to hold the tie with his teeth. She doesn't tempt him and in fact tries to discourage his use but before you know it they're both addicted and have stolen from Wolf and begged on the streets for more.
Winter descends, the weather turns cold and bleak, the tourists depart and take their gaiety with them. We last see Farmer squirming around on the floor and screaming for a fix, and Grünberg OD's in a dark hallway and his body is sniffed out by a dog.
It's a sad tale, rather like "The Panic in Needle Park", in which a user sadly watches his amour become hooked, except that in this case the addiction is unintended by both parties. You really DO get addicted too, because of something called the opponent process theory. Your body has a number of built-in receptors for naturally produced "happy" substances. If you begin using opiates, what happens is that your body adjusts to the new inputs, and develops still more "happy" receptors, so you need more heroin just to remain normal, never mind high.
I didn't find either of the principles unlikable, but rather tragic because of their flaws. Grünberg isn't receptive to good advice, either from his friend Chanderli or from Farmer. He turns possessive because of his love for Farmer and slaps her around. She, in turn, loves him but she disappears mysteriously from time to time and seems to have nothing constructive in mind for the future. Both may be bad, in their own ways, but neither is evil. At the same time, there's barely any plot. I have no idea what the writers had in mind besides the exploitation of a prominent culture movement of the period.
It's a thought-provoking movie too. The thought it provokes is, "They're living in this whitewashed Taj Mahal overlooking the Mediterranean and neither has a job worth mentioning. So where the hell is the money coming from?" That's the thought it provokes. I'd love to know the answer because Ibiza looks pretty tempting, regardless of the season.
But, having met Farmer, Grünberg is struck with her and pursues her to the paradisiacal island of Ibiza, where he finds her somehow mixed up with a vaguely genial Landsmann named Wolf. The sun is blazing, the buildings are white, the scenery magnificent, and the descent into the maelstrom begins. First she introduces him to "pot." He kind of likes it. Grünberg and Farmer sneak away from the town and from Wolf, and relocate to a mountaintop retreat where she reluctantly involves him in "horse" -- that is heroin -- showing him how to cook it and how to hold the tie with his teeth. She doesn't tempt him and in fact tries to discourage his use but before you know it they're both addicted and have stolen from Wolf and begged on the streets for more.
Winter descends, the weather turns cold and bleak, the tourists depart and take their gaiety with them. We last see Farmer squirming around on the floor and screaming for a fix, and Grünberg OD's in a dark hallway and his body is sniffed out by a dog.
It's a sad tale, rather like "The Panic in Needle Park", in which a user sadly watches his amour become hooked, except that in this case the addiction is unintended by both parties. You really DO get addicted too, because of something called the opponent process theory. Your body has a number of built-in receptors for naturally produced "happy" substances. If you begin using opiates, what happens is that your body adjusts to the new inputs, and develops still more "happy" receptors, so you need more heroin just to remain normal, never mind high.
I didn't find either of the principles unlikable, but rather tragic because of their flaws. Grünberg isn't receptive to good advice, either from his friend Chanderli or from Farmer. He turns possessive because of his love for Farmer and slaps her around. She, in turn, loves him but she disappears mysteriously from time to time and seems to have nothing constructive in mind for the future. Both may be bad, in their own ways, but neither is evil. At the same time, there's barely any plot. I have no idea what the writers had in mind besides the exploitation of a prominent culture movement of the period.
It's a thought-provoking movie too. The thought it provokes is, "They're living in this whitewashed Taj Mahal overlooking the Mediterranean and neither has a job worth mentioning. So where the hell is the money coming from?" That's the thought it provokes. I'd love to know the answer because Ibiza looks pretty tempting, regardless of the season.