The Cavalier daily :: Friday, February 20, 1970 :: University of Virginia Library

Stefan, a young man in search of
meaning meets and immediately
falls in love with a thrill-seeking
blonde named Estelle (played by
Mimsy Farmer). Estelle, very much
into the drug scene, introduces
Stefan to higher and higher levels of
chemical entertainment until finally,
strung-out on heroin he takes
an overdose and dies.

Two Causes

There appears to be two causes
for Stefan's tragic end, one of
which is his belief that to fully live
life one must experience as many of
its facets as possible. Estelle persuades
him to try heroin by asking,
"How can you pass up an experience?"
Stefan breaks down and
afterwards ironically says that every
experience is worthwhile and the
more worthwhile the experience
the more dangerous the result.

The second cause of Stefan's
self-destruction is his love for
Estelle. Even after he realizes what
she has done to him and is able to
escape he refuses to leave her.
Estelle leads him to his doom and
he willingly follows.

Narcs Attend

As a film about the dangers of
drug abuse, "More" is as convincing
as it is inconsequential; the fact of
which makes me wonder at the
attendance of a local narcotics
agent at an advance screening. The
consequences of their addiction
are well-known to everyone. Ask a
black in Harem or one of the local
freaks. I find it amusing that in a
country which has developed such a
paranoically hard line policy against
marijuana users, a movie like
"More" which accepts grass as
being relatively harmless should
gain the hearty approval of a narc.

The acceptance of "More" as a
semi-propaganda film is both due to
a short-sightedness in the viewers
and more important an unemotional
directorial style. "More," in fact,
deals with the destruction of a man
possessed not so much with drugs
as with love, Mr. Schroeder's
direction of which is so uninvolving
and gloomy as to appear documentary-like.
A dull throb of desolation
pervades the film as we view the
characters in dark shadowy scenes
which hold neither excitement nor
humor. Even the rare sunlit scenes
are stiflingly hazy and the sun itself
is seen as a hot and heavy weight of
dreariness.

Drab Style

I am convinced that Mr.
Schroeder was successful in conveying
his thoughts in such a drab
style just as I am aware of the
unentertaining nature of the film.
My only hope is that viewers will
not equate the two terms: successful
and entertaining. If such is the
case, it seems that the only satisfied
audience will be composed of
narcotics agents, a terrible fate for
an interesting film.

(Now at the Cinema)