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.