Marianne Faithfull - Dreaming My Dreams (2000)

One of the most famous and infamous artists of our time, Marianne Faithfull is an icon of the Sixties. This videography takes us through Marianne's entire life, from her hit single at age 17, "As Tears Go By"--the first song ever written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards--to her triumphant return to the music world with the powerful hit album "Broken English." In between is the swingin' '60s scene in London, life with the Stones, a drug habit she finally kicked and a successful return to her first love--music! A fascinating story of an expressive talent who truly is one-of-a-kind! Songs: Vagabond Ways, Broken English, Working Class Hero, Ballad of Lucy Jordan, As Tears Go By, Dreaming My Dreams.

Something New For Me

Beyond her history with drugs and Mick Jagger I knew very little about Marianne Faithfull before seeing this DVD. Especially not her early history-her odd family life,acedemic upbringing and her own beginnings as an english pop singer. But throughout the whole thing I kept asking myself:Marianne obviously has a very passionate voice and a distinct (if sometimes eccentric) personality and why at the very cusp of pop stardom in the mid 1960's she chose voluntarily to submit herself to a life of sex,drugs and rock n' roll. Her additude about this might lead one to believe she advocated and praised the heroin addiction in which she indulged. Nevertheless this DVD did paint a broad canvased portrait of her life and art (I had no idea she'd recorded "Sister Morphine" before the Stones did-shows you what I know) even if many of the interviews with Marianne herself border almost on self-therapy,even if as you watch this you begin to realize that is something that she may really need for herself. Even though it's only an hour and could've gone on a little longer-I'd have loved to see extended interviews with her,Keith Richards and her ex husband(s)perhaps this DVD is certainly a treat for the fan and a great primer for the uninitiated such as myself. January 20, 2008

Good material, but stripped down re-release

This documentary is a budget re-release of the 2000 DVD of the same name. It has the same documentary material, but the 30-minute bonus music track has been stripped out. Oddly--or misleadingly--the songs are still listed on the back of the keep case. December 6, 2007

Added concert footage brings her story full circle

Viewers unfamiliar with Marianne Faithfull may wonder what all the fuss is about: her voice seems like a ruin, and her songs a gothic landscape of unfulfilled longing. Yet it's just these qualities that her long-time fans find redeem her pop-star past. The DVD doesn't add anything to explain this appeal (you either enjoy Marianne's voice and songs, or you find them inexplicable) but it does trace a line from past to present with a directness that even Marianne finds astonishing in the telling: how did I get here from there?

It's an old twist on the celebrity tale when Ms. Faithfull -- after being at the center of the cultural '60s storm, thanks in part to the Stones' manager Andrew Loog Oldham -- admits that "what I'd really like would have been a nice suburban life." You can take that remark at face value, or it can serve as the ultimate cautionary tale of wretched excess survived, from the co-writer of "Sister Morphine."

The bonus concert footage is from her appearance on "Sessions at West 54th" (2000), a summation of Marianne's recording career at the time, and her full-length interview is intercut with archival footage from the mid-sixties and parts of the concert at St. Ann's Church in NYC that make up her live album, "Blazing Away." If there's a fault to this production, it seems somewhat short at sixty minutes (the added concert footage does, however, stretch it to an hour-and-a-half): her '90s history seems a bit rushed, and there's Keith Richards to sit for an interview about Marianne and yet just two brief quotes, although great ones. The DVD is a good look at the flip-side of rock stardom and a showcase for Marianne's extraordinary career.
March 16, 2005

Major mistake

Marianne was not married to Nicholas Dunbar...she was married to John Dunbar. Nicholas is their son. And lucky to have been born before the Uber-Narcissist Marianne went into drug neverland.

I presume Marianne has disclosed in this video, as she did in her autobio, that she lost another child (a girl, Mick Jagger's child) due to anemia obviously caused by drugs. Her name would have been Corinna, it's said.

I have not seen this DVD so can't judge it, but just wanted to clarify the family names. It would probably bug even Marianne to see that her ex-husband was mistaken for her son. May 4, 2003

Stop reading my review and buy this. Now.

Have a passion for music? Buy this. Now. Be it Kurt Weill or John Cale? Buy this. Now. Eternal gratitude to Image for putting this out and Amazon for accessing it. WARNING, CLICHE FOLLOWS (but it is true): One of the most personal and intense singers, one of the best songwriters, and one of the most facinating celebrities (these are generally conflicting things) of the latter half of the 20th century, Marianne Faithfull and the filmmakers brought her history and her art to my home. If you share these passions, you will click and let them be brought to yours. December 19, 2000

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