When a Love Story Broke Boundaries
Michael Winterbottom’s 9 Songs took the movie industry by surprise in the year of 2004. It was marketed as a love story set to live music with remarkable intimacy. At the center of the story was Matt (Kieran O’Brien), a glaciologist from Britain, and Lisa (Margo Stilley), an exchange student from America. Their relationship was both passionate and ephemeral. It was the execution of the story that set the film apart. 9 Songs had sex scenes that were unsimulated along with music from such bands as Franz Ferdinand and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
Considered to be one of the most controversial films in British cinema, there is no doubt that the film sparked heated debates and controversy; however, to the movie’s actors, it transformed their lives and careers in a way that few anticipated.
The Story That Was More Than Just Skin
Winterbottom’s 9 Songs is not, by any stretch of the imagination, pornography. It was constructed as a diary of a relationship that is short and gentle in nature. It has been captured through nine songs and nine concerts. The songs represent the stages of the relationship, with the couple Matt and Lisa, transitioning through them from the high points of overwhelming excitement and desire to the final stage of separation.
For viewers, the contrast between the thunderous rock music and the soft scenes made the film remarkably intimate. After all, it wasn’t simply two people engaging in sex. It was two people in love. Two people fighting and two people drifting apart. And throughout all of it, we had two actors who had to bare not only their skin, but their true selves.
Margo Stilley: From Bold Debut to Quiet Exit
For Stilley, who at the time was only 21, we can only imagine the experience she artistry and craft. She had recently graduated and in the industry, only to eventually bear the title of the leading actress in the film.
Initially, the film unlocked several opportunities – she emerged as a conversation starter for many festivals and her courageousness was confirmed by European critics who appreciated the film as art and not a scandal. But the consequences were much more complex. In Holloywood, her name was linked to the infamous 9 Songs and a number of producers were in a conundrum regarding how to place her. Was she too risqué for mainstream movies? or, was she too fetishized by the audience to be considered for any role outside of erotic cinema?
Stilley herself did not seem to come in terms with this. She did not, in any of her interviews, claim to regret the film. However, over time, she did claim to be exhausted from being pigeonholed by it. She participated in the films How to Lose Friends and Alienate People and Hippie Hippie Shake, yet the the image of Lisa was inescapable. After a few years however, she withdrew from acting and spending the remainder of her life in seclusion. For the fans, her absence was considered to be a fascinating hiding spot. It was as if Lisa herself stepped out from the screen and embraced the silence.
Kieran O’Brien: The actor who bore the brunt of the backlash
To O’Brien, portraying Matt was both exhilarating and torturous. Prior to O’Brien’s work in the 9 Songs film, O’Brien was already a constant presence on British television having worked in other dramas. However, after the film was released, he became viewed as the man who had the audacity to cross the line.
Despite the backlash, O’Brien remained a fierce advocate of the film. In defending the film, he was quoted as saying that doing real sex on camera was, “no big deal compared to being shot or blown up in other films”. Most of the time the bold nature of his thoughts almost aligned perfectly with the bold nature of the film in question. In contrast, his career trajectory clearly showed the consequences of being involved in something so fundamentally controversial.
As the O’Brien of today, he is a constant presence on television as well as the theater, but is often typecast into dark, edgy roles. It seems as though the industry has, in a sense, failed to untether him from the intricacy of Matt. Unlike Stilley, O’Brien decided to go the opposite direction. He was the stunt actor who had a tendency of doing brazen indie films as well as dramas that required the same ruthlessly candid performances. However, his association with 9 Songs was inescapable. To this day, it is the first line in most write ups about O’Brien.
Behind the Curtain — A Set Unlike Any Other
A pair of deeply felt transformations were navigated by both actors during the set. Michael Winterbottom is famous for shooting with low scripts because then he can maximize improvisation. For 9 Songs, he went further — constructing what felt like more of a private experiment than a film shoot.
The actors were given outlines like “go to this concert, spend the night together, argue about this, then make love after.” There was no traditional script. A lot of their dialogue and emotional beats were improvised, which Stilley and O’Brien tempered with the real trust that was necessary to make the film believable.
Members of the crew have spoken about the set being almost too quiet, and filled with an eerie respect during the more “personal” moments. Winterbottom seemed to do this with intention by keeping his team small, which, I notice, helped to create a real “bubble” around his actors. Along with the more creative, blurred boundaries of set Stilley Stilley claimed was the more liberating and exhausting. More to the point, Stilley remarked that she had to do the very real work of reminding herself how much she playing the role, not living the role.
Reactions to the film were enthusiastic when the film was screening at the Cannes Film Festival, as several claimed it to be innovative while others criticized it harshly. Some claimed it to be intrepid engagement with the idea of intimacy while others claimed it was simply pornography masquerading as an artistic film.
In the UK, uncensored releases have become increasingly common but the decision to release the film uncut to the public was controversial. Publicly the film was described as rather tender while others described it as purely obscene. Even at that, the decision sparked wild debates on the limiting factors of cinema in society.
Over the years the ability of the public to consume the construct became a new burden. Stilley, in particular, focused a lot on whether the portrays on screen were fiction, and of of them, she received the harshest backlash. The intrigue that never quite died down most likely is what shaped the career of both Stilley and O’Brien.
A Film That Defined and Divided Careers
In retrospect, Stilley and O’Brien’s Margo Stilley, arguably, was the first film that shattered the careers of its stars in multiplicities. Stilley was the epitome of both the beginning and the end. She was globally renowned, but the role ultimately pigeonholed her into a typecast which she eventually walked away from. For Kieran O’Brien, the film was a daring statement. It was a form of a self-inflicted badge of honor which, despite the predominant avenues it shut, allowed him to take in a more audacious approach.
Their connection, born in such a raw and unique set of conditions, is rarely, if ever, discussed in detail. Nevertheless, the two actors have both commented on the faith and regard that they inched toward each other during the time that they spent doing the work. With that, it’s likely that 9 Songs, through all of its fillers, would have never been able to work.
And, so, in addition to the music, the other thing that 9 Songs has is the legacy regarding two actors and, more importantly, a story that goes along with it, which is dedicated to the film’s on and off. For this particular story, the actors had to devote all of their essence along with the film and would have to live with the consequences that followed from the envelopes of the last concert which had echoed and was, without a doubt, able to settle down.
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