Title: I'm Not There Release Date: 2007 Genre: Drama Director: Todd Haynes
Have you ever sat around with friends and asked: If a film were made about your life, who would you want to star as you?
How about Christian Bale or Cate Blanchett?
Here is a different question—how many people would be needed to play you?
This may seem like a strange question, but when Todd Haynes was co-writing I’m Not There, a film about the life of Bob Dylan, he decided it would take six people to fill Dylan’s shoes.
His answer to Bale or Blanchett: Yes.
In a unique approach to story telling, I’m Not There portrays the person of Dylan through the performances of six different actors. Each actor takes on a different layer of Dylan’s life rather than just a specific time period.
While the film has many moments that even the most marginal Dylan fan will love, the greatest thing about this move is in how it tells the story—and here I am not speaking just of having a cast of people play a single role. Haynes tells the story of Dylan’s life by looking at who he is and letting that comment on what he has done rather than looking at what he has done and letting that comment on who he is. While that may seem like a small distinction, I think if you consider your own life, you may see that it is not.
Lets go back to the idea of having a film made about your life. Would you want it done in the VH1’s “Behind The Music” fashion where they go through your life depicting the high and low points and letting that define who you are? Or would you rather have a film that attempts to portray the inner parts of your make-up? Think about the things you have done that you are not proud of. If people simply saw your actions, what would they deduce about who you are? But what if they knew who you really are and then watched you live out your life? Wouldn’t that help color those high and low points in a very important way?
This is the gift that Haynes gives us in I’m Not There. He helps us understand what Dylan has done through showing us who Dylan is. And while it my take six different actors to even scratch the surface of Dylan's persona, at least Haynes is attempting to answer the 'who is Dylan' question rather than settling for the simpler, 'what did he do?'
And what of the people you come in contact with each day? Do you seek to understand what they do through who they are or are you making judgments about who they are base solely on what they have done?
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