Unveiled and misty-eyed
MYSTIFY: MICHAEL HUTCHENCE I A new doc by a close friend unpacks the tragic demise of the INXS singer…
Alot of times when rock stars die young, they’re driving too fast or taking lots of drugs or something,” relates Australian director Richard Lowenstein. “But if you’re on a Copenhagen bicycle eating pizza at the height of your career when Zeus sends down a lightning bolt, it’s a whole different story.”
Lowenstein deviates from tragic rock-star clichés in his study of INXS frontman Michael Hutchence, who died at 37 in 1997. With affection and rigour, Lowenstein portrays his old friend as a sensitive, sensually inclined individual, albeit one blessed with volcanic rock ’n’ roll magnetism.
The singer emerges humanised in Lowenstein’s immersive preference for archive interviews over a talking heads-based approach. “I wanted to take the
audience into a time-capsule. I didn’t want talking heads pulling us out of it. And almost everyone interviewed trusted me because I’d never sold my story.”
Duly, Hutchence’s friends, family, bandmates and lovers all share secrets. Kylie Minogue talks openly, Helena Christensen details the shockingly random Denmark assault that left Hutchence with brain injuries. “He wasn’t the guy I’d known afterwards,” says Lowenstein.
Against this backdrop, Lowenstein shows how press attention over Hutchence’s relationship with Paula Yates, custody battles with Bob Geldof and feelings regarding separation from daughter Tiger Lily created “a perfect storm of suicide risk”. Tabloid rumours of autoerotic asphyxiation frothed after his death. For Lowenstein, Mystify was his chance to rectify that. “I felt I owed him… I think he would have wanted the truth to come out so people can see with compassion what he was dealing with. Rather than just going, ‘Oh, maybe he was into kinky sex games.’”
ETA | 18 OCTOBER / MYSTIFY: MICHAEL HUTCHENCE OPENS THIS AUTUMN.