Sasha Weiss

assemble families around himself in the form of collaborators and bandmates, but he would always really challenge those relationships to the point of breaking. He was distrustful. He was demanding. A couple of his close collaborators say that when they asked for a raise, Prince said to them, if you really loved me, you wouldn't ask me for a raise. He was really controlling with his girlfriends.

assemble families around himself in the form of collaborators and bandmates, but he would always really challenge those relationships to the point of breaking. He was distrustful. He was demanding. A couple of his close collaborators say that when they asked for a raise, Prince said to them, if you really loved me, you wouldn't ask me for a raise. He was really controlling with his girlfriends.

With one girlfriend, he tried to prevent her from seeing her family and from making phone calls at a certain point.

With one girlfriend, he tried to prevent her from seeing her family and from making phone calls at a certain point.

Yes, and I think, you know, what you see unfolding in the film is someone also at war with himself. You know, on the one hand, just this overwhelming creativity that was pouring out of him and a desire to have people participate in that, but a constant pushing people away. You know, he was a great elevator of women, for example.

Yes, and I think, you know, what you see unfolding in the film is someone also at war with himself. You know, on the one hand, just this overwhelming creativity that was pouring out of him and a desire to have people participate in that, but a constant pushing people away. You know, he was a great elevator of women, for example.

He had many famous female collaborators, but many of those collaborators testify to the fact that he could be

He had many famous female collaborators, but many of those collaborators testify to the fact that he could be

you know not only controlling but kind of put them down and diminish them and make them feel worthless and he could also be physically abusive so you hear from a girlfriend of his a collaborator jill jones who talks about a moment when she flew into a jealous rage and prince hit her and never apologized and her anguish many years later is just totally vivid for the viewer

you know not only controlling but kind of put them down and diminish them and make them feel worthless and he could also be physically abusive so you hear from a girlfriend of his a collaborator jill jones who talks about a moment when she flew into a jealous rage and prince hit her and never apologized and her anguish many years later is just totally vivid for the viewer

Well, there's a great moment in the film where he's singing the beautiful ones. You can find performances like this one online. And, you know, one of the refrains is... Do you want him or do you want me? Because I want you. It's the song of yearning. And he is just giving a wild performance of a kind of screaming and keening and, you know, falling. And...

Well, there's a great moment in the film where he's singing the beautiful ones. You can find performances like this one online. And, you know, one of the refrains is... Do you want him or do you want me? Because I want you. It's the song of yearning. And he is just giving a wild performance of a kind of screaming and keening and, you know, falling. And...

When I heard his like sort of yelps and his cries, I always thought it was about sexuality, you know, and sexual yearning, romantic yearning. But I was able to hear it in a different way. And partly because one of his bandmates is telling me, I hear her voice on the film telling me, this was the central problem of his life, this problem of abandonment. Do you want me?

When I heard his like sort of yelps and his cries, I always thought it was about sexuality, you know, and sexual yearning, romantic yearning. But I was able to hear it in a different way. And partly because one of his bandmates is telling me, I hear her voice on the film telling me, this was the central problem of his life, this problem of abandonment. Do you want me?

And you could hear the pure pain in it. And then suddenly Prince's screaming feels also like grief. It's not just sexuality. It's also grief. It's also pain. And it's authentic. And I understand that the song contains all of it. So it's this richness. And you sort of understand what's feeding the performance and that when he's there on stage, like, yes, he's...

And you could hear the pure pain in it. And then suddenly Prince's screaming feels also like grief. It's not just sexuality. It's also grief. It's also pain. And it's authentic. And I understand that the song contains all of it. So it's this richness. And you sort of understand what's feeding the performance and that when he's there on stage, like, yes, he's...

I'm sure aware of what he's doing and in control of what he's doing, but he's also possessed and kind of channeling all of this complexity through his body and through his voice. And I just hear his music completely differently now. The layers are so much deeper.

I'm sure aware of what he's doing and in control of what he's doing, but he's also possessed and kind of channeling all of this complexity through his body and through his voice. And I just hear his music completely differently now. The layers are so much deeper.

So the movie is an answer to a cultural question that I think has been vexing us for a decade or more, which is what do we do with great artists who are extremely flawed human beings? And the answer that the movie offers is that we basically sit with their contradictions, right? And Prince was, on the one hand, a genius, an original of a generation, an original of a century.

So the movie is an answer to a cultural question that I think has been vexing us for a decade or more, which is what do we do with great artists who are extremely flawed human beings? And the answer that the movie offers is that we basically sit with their contradictions, right? And Prince was, on the one hand, a genius, an original of a generation, an original of a century.