Jim Morrison's brutal and mysterious death in Paris in July 1971 has continued to fuel the myth of the man himself

On the night of 2 to 3 July 1971, Jim Morrison’s body was found lifeless in the bathtub of a flat in Paris by his American partner Pamela Courson. The mysterious circumstances surrounding his death were not made public until a few days later. Was it cardiac arrest? CIA plot? Overdose? Strangely, the police did not order an autopsy, raising questions that would continue to fuel the myth of the singer-poet’s tragic fate. With his brutal death, Jim Morrison joined the club of 27 libertarian idols, including Janis Joplin, Brian Jones and Jimi Hendrix, all struck down at the age of 27.

Between hope and drift

This film sheds light on the circumstances surrounding the icon’s disappearance and the grey areas surrounding it, and also attempts to unravel the mystery of the man behind the legend, and in particular the man he had become in recent months in Paris, after fleeing the United States, prosecuted for obscenity, and abandoning his rock star kit. In this voluntary exile, the tormented genius swung between hopes of a new life with his literary heroes, led by Rimbaud, and self-destructive wandering in a Paris where the counterculture was beginning to flirt with heroin. Enriched by a wealth of archive material, this is a cold case investigation and a portrait painted by those who knew him, perhaps closing the Morrison file half a century after his death.

VOD

Arte
Amazon Prime

• Director:

  Olivier Monssens

• Production:

  Matcha prod

• Producer:

  Mathieu Hucher

• Broadcasters:

  Arte, RTBF, Amazon Prime

• Titles and animation:

  Squarefish