GEORGE HARRISON: LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD – a film by Martin Scorsese (2011)
Martin Scorsese’s absorbing documentary made for HBO TV was co-produced by George Harrison’s widow, Olivia. I would suspect that she helped ensure that so much of the film is dedicated to her husband’s spiritual journey rather than getting sidetracked into his marital indiscretions.
Both she and Sir Paul McCartney are very protective/secretive about the sexual adventures of the ‘quiet Beatle’. They each refer to his relations with women in a very cryptic manner. McCartney says that he was a red-blooded male who liked what ‘normal’ men like, while she talks about overcoming “all those other things” that occasionally got in the way of their wedded bliss. She says that he had a special aura that women found irresistible and that when she is asked what the secret of staying married to someone like him is, she always replies “don’t get divorced”.
I wouldn’t want ,or expect, Martin Scorsese to hunt for dark secrets or dig around for some dirt, but in the course of a three hour movie I would have liked a slightly more rounded portrait. Continue reading
