On May 3, Magnolia Pictures released Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg, the long-awaited documentary about the model, actress, socialite, and girlfriend of both Brian Jones and Keith Richards. Pallenberg, probably best known for her years with Jones and Richards, is an often misunderstood figure, and the film does its best to portray her in the various lights she’s been cast, positive and negative. 

After finally leaving Jones’ side after some tumultuous years of mental and physical abuse, Pallenberg falls into the arms of a waiting Richards, with whom she’d have three children. Their son Marlon set the process of getting the documentary made into motion, wanting his mother’s story to be told, and lends his perspective throughout. She’s credited with pushing Brian Jones into some of the more experimental directions the Stones explored in the mid-late 60s, and she’s tied to Richards’ in his darkest years of addiction until things got too heavy for even him, and he had to put some distance between himself and her destructive ways. Stones stories aside, she was an actress in some avant garde films (including Barbarella) and ran in film and modeling circles in Rome, Paris, and New York before settling down amidst a series of tragedies and relapses until her death in 2017. 

The film paints the picture of a beautiful and talented but deeply troubled woman. It’s far from a feel-good story, with no shortage of tragic deaths left in her wake, starting with Brian Jones all the way to her third child with Richards, who was just 3 months old in 1976, and the suicide of their 17-year old upstate New York estate groundskeeper in her bed with Keith’s gun 3 years later. A Fling with Mick Jagger on the set of Performance in 1970 amidst the insanity that was the Rolling Stones machine at that time is covered in depth along with footage of her film work. Drug use plays a central role, almost a character itself. Keith’s attempts to get her and himself clean, eventually succeeding on the latter, never on the former, are a recurring theme, as the couple struggle to stay together amidst the insanity or addiction under the umbrella of the circus that was the biggest rock band in the world.  

Several key players participated, including her children, and there are current interviews with Richards himself, though Keith was oddly only heard, never seen on screen, except in archival footage. When it’s over, you’re left with a sense of not only sadness, but amazement that a life like this was lived, and how something similar in the age of social media, the 24-hour news cycle, and disposable music would be all but impossible today. Between the shock and sadness is a beautiful, intelligent, and talented woman who got lost along the way. It’s an important film, very well done, and highly recommended to anyone interested in the Stones, classic rock, or cult-of-personality/celebrity culture in the 60s and 70s.  

Jeremy Porter lives near Detroit and fronts the rock and roll band Jeremy Porter And The Tucos. Follow them on Facebook to read his road blog about their adventures on the dive-bar circuit.
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