'Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliche' The Documentary

The documentary about Poly Styrene had its world premier at the Glasgow Film Festival on Saturday 27 February 2021, not the ideal time during a global pandemic and when the UK was still in lockdown but it had to be released some time so why not now. It was partially funded through crowdfunding campaigns, the first of which was in 2017, so it was great to see what we'd all helped to fund. It was well worth the wait, a beautiful film narrated by and featuring Poly's daughter, Celeste Bell, with never seen before photos and film clips as well as more familiar material. 

The film tells the story of Marion Elliott-Said, the woman I know as Poly Styrene. Celeste tells us about Marion's childhood in Brixton, about her largely absentee father, the racism of the time, about her hopes and dreams and seeing the Sex Pistols and deciding to reinvent herself and start her own band. And that's what she did and X-Ray Spex was born. 

This is the period of her life that most of us know Poly from, the daring young woman fronting her own band singing about oppression, consumerism and identity, hardly the subjects for pop songs back then and so she stood out from the crowd. That great run of excellent singles and the amazing classic album that seared Poly into the public consciousness and, it seems, affected her own mental health that led to the break up of X-Ray Spex. Her first solo album ('Translucence') was so different from her punk records that she was dropped by her record label. 

Celeste tells us of her parents marriage and Poly moving in to live with the Krishnas in the mansion that George Harrison bought for them and then taking Celeste to live there as well. Poly doesn't seem to have been a very good mother and Celeste ran away to live with her gran. Poly's mental health problems seemed to keep returning and this was a particularly sad section of the film.

The film skips forward to the triumphant gig at the Roundhouse in 2008 and Poly's re-emergence as a songwriter and performer leading to the release of 'Generation Indigo', Poly's last album in 2011. She died of cancer shortly after its release. The film ends with Celeste taking her mum's ashes to India to scatter in the birthplace of Krishna. It's particularly poignant that the last song on the film - as it's the last song on 'Generation Indigo' - was 'Electric Blue Monsoon' to Krishna.

The film covers the life of Poly Styrene with insights from her daughter Celeste and family, friends and people who were influenced by her. The film relies heavily on archive material rather than talking heads - we see none of the people talking about her other than Celeste and that's one of it's strengths. The narrative and flow isn't interrupted by people popping up every now and then to talk about Poly, we hear their words against archive video scenes or photos. It's also beautifully filmed with long panoramic shots and very clear and sharp cinematography. In that respect, it's quite a beautiful film. 

It's also a very honest film and I suspect Poly would approve of that. She was and is a cultural icon to many people but that doesn't mean she has to be perfect in every aspect of her life and she wasn't. Does that affect how I view her? Not in the slightest.

A film can't tell you everything about someone's life and there has to be some editing so there's nothing about the '90s or early '00s until the triumphant Roundhouse gig in 2008, nothing about the reunion gigs or 'Conscious Consumer' or 'Flower Aeroplane' albums. In a way, that doesn't matter since they weren't key to Poly's story. What was key was her magnificent re-emergence with 'Generation Indigo', the joy of it and working with her daughter Celeste on the record. And the ultimate sadness of her death mere weeks after the release of the album and doing interviews from the hospice to help promote it. 

Marion might have left us but Poly lives on and Celeste should be proud of this film, a great tribute to her mum. It's sad in places, in many places, but it's also joyful and life-affirming. Poly had no role models to help her or inform her journey but today's generation has her and so many others to draw upon. Poly has more than earned her place in our cultural history and this film cements that. See this film if you can and learn about the icon and the woman. Well done Celeste.