"Jagger: Exile on Main St." is not a typical rock biopic about the rise to fame. Instead, it is a sweaty, claustrophobic, and decadent drama set during the summer of 1971. Fleeing the British taxman, The Rolling Stones decamp to the Villa Nellcôte in the South of France. The film centers on Mick Jagger, who is at a crossroads: struggling to transition from the rebellious counterculture icon of the 60s to the shrewd, global business mogul of the 70s.
The central conflict is the deteriorating dynamic between Mick and Keith Richards. While Keith sinks deeper into heroin addiction in the villa's basement (where the album Exile on Main St. is being recorded in chaotic, humid sessions), Mick is upstairs, managing the band's finances, navigating his new marriage to Bianca, and partying with the jet-set elite. The film is a portrait of a man trying to hold a disintegrating band together through sheer will, ego, and control, culminating in the realization that the chaos he tries to suppress is actually the fuel for their greatest music.
