More is a 1969 English-language romantic drama film written and directed by Barbet Schroeder in his directorial debut. Starring Mimsy Farmer and Klaus Grünberg, the film deals with heroin addiction as drug fascination on the island of Ibiza, Spain. Made in the political fallout of the 1960s counterculture,
it features drug use, "free love", and other references to contemporary European youth culture.
The screenplay was written by Paul Gégauff and Barbet Schroeder with the original story by Schroeder. Production began in 1968 with a low budget, and the film was partially funded by Jet Films and executive produced by Les Films du Losange. More was released on DVD on 5 April 2005 by Home Vision Entertainment.
Plot
In West Germany in the late 1960s, Stefan finishes his mathematics studies and decides to experience life. He hitchhikes to Paris and befriends a petty criminal called Charlie after gambling at a bar. Charlie takes him to a party where he is fascinated by an American girl named Estelle, nicknamed the pussycat. Though Charlie warns him that she is a drug user and dangerous, he goes to her hotel room, where she introduces him to marijuana and they make love.
She is leaving for Ibiza and invites Stefan to follow her there. When he arrives, he finds she is involved with a wealthy Spanish ex-Nazi, Dr. Ernesto Wolf, as told by a drug dealer he befriends at a bar. Later, she introduces him to her friends at a hippie party, including her best friend Cathy. Stefan persuades her to join him in an isolated villa and she secretly brings both money and a huge quantity of heroin she has stolen from Wolf. After an idyllic time swimming, sunbathing, and making love, she is itching for the horse drug and introduces him to it as well. After asking a visiting Cathy, she tells Stefan what horse is: heroin.
Soon the two are on a downward spiral of addiction. Wolf demands the return of the rest of the heroin and money and, as payment for what they have used, Stefan has to work in his bar while Estelle has to share his bed. She disappears from Stefan one night, worrying him for a while. Charlie comes looking for Stefan and urges him to return to Paris. Angered by Stefan being with Estelle despite his warnings, Charlie informs him that she completely destroyed two very nice men; he doesn't want Stefan to be the third.
On the night he's supposed to leave for Paris, Stefan demands to know what Estelle did the other night and hits her. After begging for heroin, Estelle reveals to Stefan that she's been sleeping with Wolf the whole time; she doesn't like it but was forced to with the deal she made after her theft. After much abuse from Stefan, Estelle runs away, making him panic. He fruitlessly searches for her and hurts a worried Charlie after he tries convincing him it isn't worth it. The next morning, Stefan begs for two packets of heroin from the same dealer he befriended his first day in Ibiza the following morning and overdoses as a suicide, despite the dealer warning him of the drug's intensity. He is buried in the open country and Charlie, very upset, watches.
Cast
- Mimsy Farmer as Estelle Miller
- Klaus Grünberg as Stefan Brückner
- Heinz Engelmann as Dr. Ernesto Wolf
- Michel Chanderli as Charlie
- Henry Wolf as Henry
- Louise Wink as Cathy