Lennon Naked (Edmund Coulthard, 2010)

With an almost resurgence of popularity in The Beatles recently, I’m not surprised at the number of films made about some aspect of the Fab Four. I enjoyed In His Life, which focused on John Lennon’s upbringing and I was also similarly interested in this film, which is about John’s later life.

The film begins with Lennon being led by Brian Epstein to meet his father, who he hadn’t seen for 17 years. Then the story continues, centering on some quite emotional and dramatic − although perhaps also lesser known − moments of John Lennon’s life, such as Brian Epstein’s death, splitting from wife Cynthia and eloping with Yoko Ono and the breaking up of the band are the main ones.

As always, I was intrigued by actors who play famous personalities, such as The Beatles − there’s certainly a lot of pressure and big shoes to fill. But Christopher Eccleston did a great job, as did Yoko and the other Fab Four actors.

It was a strange film (and I mean that in a positive way) because it often represented Lennon in a negative light, or perhaps more realistically, which was far from this idyllic image we have of him today. The film depicts him as a man who often seems to quickly flip from a light-hearted attitude to a intensely, almost aggressive character, with disregard for other people’s feelings. But it’s not that simple and Lennon’s childhood, particularly the decision he had to make when choosing between his mother and father, seems to have greatly affected his behaviour and actions during his adulthood.

On the surface, as a Beatle fan, I enjoyed this film, but I also appreciated the many new and unknown layers the film sought to reveal about the seemingly well-known man, John Lennon.

4/5