12 January, 2023

The Acid Queen

Unfortunately, Errol Morris' latest, My Psychedelic Love Story, never made it to theaters (at least not here) nor is it available on DVD or Bluray. And so I was not able to rent it at Four Star.


Joanna Harcourt-Smith was Timothy Leary's girlfriend/partner from 1972-1977, a time when Leary was on the run from the authorities then captured, imprisoned, and eventually released after becoming an FBI informant.

While Leary is nearly omnipresent, this is Harcourt-Smith's tale. Early on she questions whether she was a pawn in the U.S. government's machinations. As she recounts events and tells the story of her life, both the viewer and Harcourt-Smith herself are none the wiser.

The tale we hear involves the excesses of the rich, the nativity of youth, the free-for-all of the Flower Power era, and the end of the innocence in the 1970s. Harcourt-Smith looks back with the wisdom that comes with age. Sometimes I found myself asking, "Did that really happen?" She comes across as a smart, thoughtful, and kind person which stands in stark contrast to the impetuous young woman who fell in love with Leary. The fact that she came from money and was well-off makes her come across, from my middle class point of view, as something of an oddity. I will never know what it's like to be a rich socialite and live in that world. And, I suppose, to be able to do or get away with what she did.

I didn't know that Leary was such an egomaniac. In one scene he compares himself to Andrei Sakharov. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised but I really didn't know a lot about him before watching this movie.

Hopefully Errol Morris' next documentary makes its way into cinemas.

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