Thoughts on Pete Doherty documentary?

[NoPumpkins]

Just that really.

I thought it was a rather ‘slight’ documentary in some ways, but it had its moments.

Fitting (and genius) that he should end up in France it occurred to me.

That's exactly what I thought. I got the impression that he knew more about the Mark Blanco incident that he was letting on. All that talk about there being a lot of pushing going on and it all being a bit blurred. There was a lot of unspoken thoughts going round in his head as it was discussed, you could just tell.

I also got the impression that there are issues with money. He mentioned at the beginning that he needed to avoid a certain restaurant because he'd left without paying the bill or something. Owes the money anyway. And further on didn't it mention that the cottage had been bought for them by his wife's parents?

I found the conversation with the fan/dealer completely cringeworthy. But not as much as watching him jumping around with whoever it was after the gig like some overexcited teenager at a school disco.

I don't like selfish people, and he just comes across as thinking of himself all the time. Not of what HE can do for others. He says he loves his wife but it left me with the impression that it's because of what she does for him, the steadying influence she brings etc. The programme didn't really a sense of what he is bringing to HER life. Apart from his supposed charm

I think perhaps he should have stuck to written interviews where they could have presented the charm as overriding his faults. Sadly it didn't come across that way on the screen for me.

He also needs to get rid of that moustache as it makes him look like a paedo.

Or Captain Pugwash.

@CurlyhairedAssassin bwahahahahaaaa - uncanny!

Oh and the cringe when he did the dive roll under the fence while walking the dog near the cows, proclaiming 'bet you weren't expecting that!' to LT... Like he was showing off how 'unexpected' he could be.

@fixies
thought he came accross as very intelligent and sensitive

what? Why? In what way is he intelligent? He quoted some poetry. Any middle class grammar school boy can do that. He knows a little bit of literature. In what way does that translate to intelligence? Middle class knowledge is not the same as intelligence.

In what way is he sensitive ? Do you mean that he is willing to talk about his ‘cool’ fuck ups? He is extraordinarily insensitive about every other person he has crossed paths with over decades (wife, children, family of MB) and if the anecdotes from MN posters are true, including anyone else in his life. He seems to have been ruthless and incapable of empathy . The opposite of sensitive

Just watched it. His little baby girl is so beautiful.

If I hadn’t read this thread I think my opinion of him would be so different from what it is.

Carl had such an annoying way of speaking, drawing in big breaths or something. I almost had to put it off when he was on.

At one point I wondered if he has maybe been told he doesn’t have long left. Just when he mentioned about seeing the baby speak, it seems an odd goal.

Carl had such an annoying way of speaking, drawing in big breaths or something. I almost had to put it off when he was on

Pretty sure he was coked up

Yea a few people have said that. I wasn’t sure if this was a coke thing or not.

I wanted to say everything you have - absolutely on the nose. It’s incredible to read this thread to see the different analyses, I can’t believe people see him as vulnerable and sweet. I’m not that hard-nosed and cynical, but honestly if I saw this man anywhere near me I’d run a mile.

PD clearly has no morals for all the reasons you mentioned.

@Bigroundpear @Elvanseshortage 👌👌
Absolutely!

Agree with that analysis too.

Also found myself judging her. Simpering that she’d chosen a “life less ordinary” no love you’ve actively chosen to have a baby with a known drug user who abandoned his older kids. Great father material there. Their dynamic was odd too she was like his keeper or his nurse.

Carl was definitely on coke or speed

@Mmmpomello I would love you to do an AMA. Such fascinating stories.

I have no sympathy at all for addicts, I'm afraid to say. Inherently selfish, no regard for the destruction and pain they cause, just take and take and take.

I have enormous sympathy for addicts but I know that until they are really clean you can’t trust them, not just in terms of their habit, but in any way. You can’t trust what they say about anything.

In the case of PD, I am not convinced that his personality has been entirely formed by his addiction. There is plenty of evidence that he has always been lacking in empathy and self absorbed.

Just because somebody knows some poetry, it doesn’t mean they are ‘nice’. It also doesn’t mean they are sensitive or introspective. The whole documentary is littered with examples of PDs lack of sensitivity and inability to own who is is and what he has done.

Yes, you thought he was cool when you were a teenager. But the reality of this man and his life is very, very far from cool.

I know very little about PD, but his behaviour was totally self-obsessed. He's clearly an addict and all an addict cares about us their next fix. They'll lie and behave however they want in order to get it.

The pp who posted I liked the interview. It was superficial in some ways, but I don’t know that you can get PD to plough the depths of his soul when clean. This crap perpetuates that drug taking helps a person reach a higher, and somehow better/beneficial state of consciousness. PD is someone who has squandered his life and the talent he has. He does have a certain charisma, but he's a very disturbed, selfish individual.

PD demonstrated his lack of boundaries when he insisted LT go in the sea, then pulled him under the water. There was a dark undercurrent there, really unpleasant and not at all playful just horrid.

Can't comprehend how his wife thought marrying and having a baby with him was a good idea. He's abandoned his other two kids and doesn't seem bothered about trying to be around for this one.

I've never ever liked him but I thought I'd watch this to see if I had "got him wrong" but no it just cemented my views further. I usually have a lot of sympathy for addicts but I just can't feel any for him. Nothing about the interview seemed genuine, even down to the tears and chest pains.

Agree platinum that’s what I thought. She came across as quite desperate. Who would actively choose such a liability relationship?

Also the aside about him not paying for a meal in a local restaurant. That alone tells me all I need to know.