Any film about the life of non-binary/pan-drogenic pioneer,
artist, musician, and disruptor Genesis Breyer P-Orridge is bound to be packed
with controversy and challenge. That
s/he was a dominant personality and influence on the creation of industrial
music is a given, and there have been endless books, videos, collections, and
recollections both during their life, and following their death. What makes ‘S/HE IS STILL HER/E’
different though is that it was Executive Produced by one of their two daughters,
Caresse, and also that it was filmed during the final year of their life. Marketed as documenting that final year, it
doesn’t really do that, but Director David Charles Rodrigues (Gay Chorus, Deep
South) has instead created a powerfully raw and intimate portrait of a personality who has lived an amazing and unique life, the like of which, few of us could even imagine.
Genesis was undoubtedly a complex character, at times
controlling and given to outbursts (although s/he habitually denied any claims
to that effect), as most creatives are, yet at the same time was hugely
intelligent and reflective and enormously creative and original. Many in regular society, and especially the media,
found that threatening and the art and ideas presented challenging to their conventional morals
and power bases. S/he was simultaneously
loved and hated, worshipped and misunderstood, quoted and mis-quoted. S/he could
be at times both generous and modest (in one interview s/he professes embarrassment
at being feted by the Tate as s/he did not feel particularly special and deserving of such
attention) and yet on other occasions s/he could be petty and egotistical (as
attested to by the well documented clumsy attempts to photoshop wife Paula out
of pictures and delete her credits from Psychic TV album sleeves following
their divorce). Take your pick. Both are probably true. In every way, Genesis
lived out life as a performance, from their earliest beginnings as part of 60’s
performance collective ‘The Exploding Galaxy’, though performance art group COUM
(which I think stands for ‘Cosmic Organism of the Universe Molecular’', or it could just be slang for semen!), noise
terrorists Throbbing Gristle, and quasi-religious pop band PTV and the associated
Temple of Psychic Youth, to using and adapting their body as a medium
to express a very different way of perceiving identity. That one
person could do so much and prevail over multiple setbacks is truly impressive. In the film s/he says that the lives of
artists are very often more compelling than the art itself. That is partly true here, as the myths, the
imagery, the stories, and the performances come across as far more interesting than the musical
output.
The film also features significant contributions from their two daughters,
Caress and Genesse, whose description of their unusual childhood, and obvious deep love
for their father comes across powerfully, and showcases a caring nature and a
disarming normality when bringing them up, although equally obvious is that those
around Genesis played a huge part too, in particular their mother Paula of course, but also the many who
baby sat whilst Genesis was focussed on other things. That domesticity is something not
covered much in other documentaries. Much of the rest of film is comprised of an
interview with Genesis (one of their last) and rare archive footage, both of domestic
scenes, and of performances byThrobbing Gristle and Psychic TV, coupled with voice
overs and interviews featuring William Burroughs, Brion Gyson, Timothy Leary, Alice
Genese (Psychic TV), David J (Bauhaus/Love and Rockets) and PTV band
members/associates. Thankfully, we are spared
the usual procession of talking heads that
habitually accompany this sort of biographical film, with testimony coming from people close to
Genesis who actually knew them, rather than just observers and music journalists. That serves to make this documentary feel
genuinely quite intimate, if these things can ever be that.
Given the film is largely comprised of anecdotes, there isn’t
too much I can say without risking spoilers, but there are a couple of examples
I will mention. One is the meeting with
William Burroughs, who Genesis wrote to after finding his address in a magazine
article, resulting in an invitation to visit him, a meeting of minds, and Burroughs
tasking Genesis with “short cutting control”, a mission s/he embraced wholeheartedly. The other is the decision to re-name from
their birth name of Neil Megson to Genesis P-Orridge (‘Genesis’ representing
creation), “not because I wanted a funny sounding name, it was because I wanted
to control the narrative of my life”, something that persisted right through to
the body modification of the latter part of their life with Lady Jaye (Jacqueline
Breyer) as the “Pandrogeny Project", literally adopting a cut
up approach to both of their bodies to merge identities, pre-dating the current
non-binary choices that are now commonplace.
The most painful part of this film is the clear heartbreak s/he feels
when love of their life Lady Jaye died suddenly in 2007. From that point on, you felt that their life
was leading up to the point they could re-unite, which they did when Genesis
passed away in 2020 aged 70, having performed for the last time in 2018 at
London’s Heaven nightclub.
Watching this film opens your eyes to how it is possible to
live a very different existence, without fear or constraint, and without seeking to harm others in the process. As
Genesis said, ultimately “it all comes down to love”, with “a thin line between
creativity and jail”. That the imagery
associated with Throbbing Gristle and PTV have crossed over to the extent that
I can wear a TG T Shirt in rural Norfolk and it is instantly recognised, shows
just how far they have transitioned into our consciousness.
There is a lot, lot, more I could say on this film, but it
is best that you see it for yourself.
Screenings are happening in the UK over the next few weeks and I expect
at some point it will get an online release too.
Essential Information.
S/HE IS STILL HER/E screenings:
25th October - LONDON - BFI Southbank NFT1
(Q&A with Director hosted by Pam Hogg)
26th October - DUBLIN - Lighthouse Cinema (Q&A with
Director)
2nd November - LONDON – ICA (Q&A with Director &
Alice Genese hosted by Dorothy Max Prior)
Booking details here.
Images: Screen grabs from trailer