‘Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg’ Filmmakers on Working With Her Son to Capture His Complicated Mother’s Life: ‘Marlon Encouraged Us to Go Deep and to Go Dark’

variety.com:

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor A muse, a mother, a fashionista, an actor, a rock ‘n’ roll icon — it’s hard to describe exactly why Anita Pallenberg remains such a compelling figure more than a half-century after the captivating blonde sang backing vocals on the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” and starred in movies like “Performance” and “Barbarella.” The new documentary “Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg” delves into both the beautiful and tragic moments of her eventful life with the help of a treasure trove of home movies and interviews, as well as an unpublished memoir penned by Pallenberg and narrated by Scarlett Johansson.

The footage is coupled with interviews of the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards, with whom she had a significant relationship, their children Marlon and Angela Richards, director Volker Schlondorff, who cast her in some of his films, and her former friends and associates. “I’ve been called a witch, a slut and a murderer.

I’ve been hounded by the police and slandered by the press,” wrote Pallenberg in the memoir. And indeed, the documentary is unflinching in looking at the darkest periods of her life, from Brian Jones’ drowning to the loss of her infant son, her addictions and at the end of the 1970s, the death of a 17-year old boy who was playing Russian roulette in her bedroom.

Pallenberg died in 2017 at the age of 75. The idea for capturing Pallenberg’s life on film was sparked by her son Marlon Richards, who serves as executive producer.