Nico Icon

this film is truly anything but a real documentary. How anyone could take as interesting a subject as Nico and so incomprehensively make a film that purports to go inside her life is beyond me? It seems like this film was thrown together at best. I had no understanding of the real chronology of Nico's life, as the timeline jumps around repeatedly. The interviews seem largely to rely on one interview with John Cale, and it's just quite clear that the filmmakers didn't do any research whatsoever. Instead the filmmaker's come up with the dull technique of using superimposed titles throughout the film to highlight the un-insightful interviews. So superficial, so dull-looking, so without any kind of understanding of what must go into a posthumous documentary that it is really sad. A wasted opportunity. Shooting photographs for an hour or so and playing the Velvet Underground and Nico album over it is hardly the stuff of insightful or talented documentaries.

I knew little of Nico when I first saw this on it's first release back in 1995,but I quickly became fascinated by this striking beauty with haunting monotone voice.

There are many great moments in this:

The interview with the musician who toured with Nico in her middle aged junkie years,saying he wrote a book to show the "failure" side of rock stardom.

Nico's aunt tearfully listening and singing along with "I'll Be Your Mirror"

Alain Delon's mother showing how modestly she lives and speaks of raising Nico and Delon's son.

Seeing the grown son Ari after hearing about his troubled childhood.

The 1965 music video of Nico singing "I'm Not Saying"

This is one of the best documentaries I've seen so far. The weird but mesmerizing horror & occasional beauty of Nico's life & music are extremely well evoked. The most impressive scenes are the interviews with Alain Delon's mother Edith Boulogne -- who died soon after the movie was finished -- who had taken care of Alain's & Nico's son Ari, and, finally, John Cale performing "Frozen Warnings" alone on the piano. Susanne Ofteringer's film includes interview footage with James Young, the former keyboarder of her band, who has himself written a book about his time with Nico & the band. Only Alain Delon is missing ... No matter if you know or like Nico's definitely genuine, but strange approach to music, the movie is worthwhile watching for its documentary qualities.

"Nico Icon" is a movie which will not satisfy Nico's fans cause the essential,that is to say,the musical side ,is minimal .Both her short stint with the Velvet and her solo career are botched.

On the other hand,we hear Edith Boulogne, actor Alain Delon's mother talk for a long time of her grandson Ari -who appears himself too- .There was a world between Nico, an avant-garde artist and a simple woman such as Mrs Boulogne who complains "cause she was always feeding him with crisps ".The boy seems to despise his grandma who raised him though.

In his biography of Delon (2000),(I do not know if the book has been translated into English) Bernard Violet devoted the end of a chapter to Nico's son: "Le cas "Ari Boulogne" ".

Came to this film, with a few good recommendations, but no knowledge at all about the woman, Christa Paffgen (NICO) about whom this documentary is based.

NICO, a young German woman, model, created an image in conjunction with Andy Warhol and his group as an asexual junkie. As a biography, the film is weak, short on information, with a limited and jaded perspective.

As a tribute, it fails miserably. I'm still uncertain where ICON fits in the whole picture aside from looking good in the title. There is little substance in the film to suggest she 'earned' any sort of recognition, stature, or approval from anyone but miscreants and lost souls. From my vantagepoint her life seems little different than many misguided college youth who gave up their lives to confusion and drugs, far too early. It's a tragic tale, I guess, but far from distinctive.

The whole deal is some sort of inside joke and I sit outside, unfortunately--maybe it all got lost in the translation.