‘What killed Michael Hutchence?’: the tabloidification of the modern rock doc
What killed Michael Hutchence? Mystify: Michael Hutchence brings new information to light. According to thengirlfriend Helena Christensen, in 1992 the INXS frontman got into an altercation with a taxi driver which led to him falling and hitting his head. She remembers him lying unconscious in the street with blood coming out of his mouth and ear. Hutchence woke up in hospital angry and confused, and refused to be treated. After that, friends say, he was never quite the same: he became aggressive, erratic and “seemed to crave more danger”. His death, five years later, was ruled to be suicide by hanging but, Mystify reveals, the autopsy revealed large areas of brain damage.
Perhaps the desire to come up with such a revelation is particularly understandable in the case of Hutchence, whose death was alleged by his thenpartner Paula Yates to be the result of autoerotic asphyxiation. The theory has been widely contested, but once established, such associations are very hard to overwrite. Mystify, directed by longtime INXS collaborator Richard Lowenstein, could be seen as an attempt to do that.
This is not the first music doc to juice up a familiar story with some apparently new piece of the puzzle. Too many of them follow the predictable trajectory of rise, fall and subdued middle-aged comeback. Often – as with the Oscar-winning Amy – when the subject has died young, the examination of probable causes threatens to overshadow the music. Adding in an investigative element is one way to give a music doc the feel of a proper documentary, rather than a featurelength hagiography. Nick Broomfield’s Biggie and Tupac, for example, and his recent Whitney: Can I Be Me?, the latter of which suggested Whitney Houston’s bisexuality and racial displacement as missing pieces of the puzzle. Recent, controversial docs such as Surviving R Kelly or Leaving Neverland (which aired allegations of childhood abuse by Michael Jackson) upped the stakes considerably.
Hutchence would seem an ideal candidate for the investigative treatment. The head injury might well have been a factor, but you feel there is a bigger story here. Other factors are hinted at: a bizarre childhood separation from his brother, copious drug use, Hutchence’s embroilment in the Paula Yates/Bob Geldof custody saga. In one interview (not in the movie) Yates said she couldn’t believe Hutchence would ever end his life. When presented with the coroner’s verdict of suicide, she replied: “The coroner didn’t know him.” Nor did we, but ironically, given its title, Mystify seems set on closing down the mystery rather than embracing it.
Mystify: Michael Hutchence is in cinemas 18 October
Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email: jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org