Not bad...but....

mmmm....well, because this was a story about Ian Curtis, and it culminates with his death, and the events leading up to it. I would have thought, therefore, that what motivated the guy to kill himself is worthy of some exploration.

I'm not asking for a public display of tragedy, I'm asking for an insight into his life and why he might have felt the need to do what he did; none of us know for certain why he killed himself, but we can suspect that the epilepsy, destruction of his relationship (s) and fear of the band getting too big probably had some role?

If we can agree on that, then perhaps the film could have done a little more to carry us along down that "sad and lonely path", instead of just walking through the part.

I'm not looking for answers to his suicide, we know what happened.

I suppose most of us who watched this would be familiar with his story, so the end was no surprise. But I'd suggest that someone who wasn't would sit there and go "huh", how did he end up dangling in his kitchen?

.....also, I'm not having a go at you, but in relation to the signs of suicide not always being overt, you are of course right, in some cases.

My father killed himself when I was 15. This in no way makes me a suicide expert, but I suspect in most cases there are always signs if people are prepared to look.

In Ian Curtis' case, I'd suggest there were many.

Indeed, his Belgian girlfriend in "Joy Division" says as much. She said that, during the recording of Closer, she was telling everyone that this was an epitaph, but everyone dismissed her.

Guess who was right?

Though it seems like the movie missed a lot of what might have precipitated his ultimate end, it could have been intentional. I had my first seizure last month and am becoming reacquainted with JD's material to maybe gain a greater hold on how I should deal with this new info. It is kind of perilous and it makes you reevaluate everything you are doing, and I think that the title gets at what it is like because you endlessly seek control over what is entirely uncertain and uncontrollable. While the medications are better, surgeries are available, and there is more knowledge about what it takes to balance the brain's chemistry, it still is utterly out of my hands. Combined with depression and insomnia, I am surprised it hasn't recurred, though mine may not be connected to epilepsy as such. Either way it does leave you feeling utterly wasted and worthless; even more so than depression in it's lesser iterations.

I'm not sure about my impression of the movie as I haven't watched it in awhile, but I think the bit about looking for signs is not unique to this suicide, but follows in the wake of anyone taking their life (and Sumner et al. have admitted to seeing it running through many of the lyrics). If anything I can take from this it is that he was pushed way too hard and needed some rest, but as someone who was depressed and already feeling guilty about seizing all the time and the tumult that this introduced into an already bustling atmosphere, it wasn't practical or something he was selfish enough to ask for. It is hard asking for help but even harder to admit you might need it. That is probably the prime lesson I have taken from my episode, but it definitely makes you go through every possible feeling, rationalization, coping mechanism, etc. that you can marshal.

In conclusion, this was based on his wife's memoir, so maybe gathering it in addition to some band members/producers perspectives would better illuminate what was going through his head.

I do believe that everything does have a deep meaning--I don't think anything "just is" especially when we are talking about the very soul of people. Personally, I don't think that Ian Curtis was mentally ill at all; yes he suffered from a severe case of epilepsy, but I don't believe it was specifically this disease or his medications which drove him over the edge. I think that the epilepsy did depress him a lot but it was an element which only added up to his general view on life. I am under the impression that Ian Curtis found everything so absurd and was maybe afraid of living a bland "metro, boulot, dodo" life because that was something which he would have to face in some way or other. Really, our own, inner life and thoughts are so complex and are often extremely grim and full of confusion about the world and the fundamental issues that we will never understand, and it is not really socially acceptable to talk about this honestly. I think that Ian Curtis was very analytical about everything and ended up feeling much despair, and this probably began in his adolescence, a time when most people become aware of certain things and start to see the world in a different light. Personally, I find it hard to cope with existence in the first place, and perhaps Ian Curtis felt the same.
Anyways, I agree with the OP that there definitely was something important missing in the film. There is a scene though which I think conveyed some of Ian Curtis' despair: when Ian looks up at the laundry and the clothes that are hung up to dry and we can really see the anguish that he feels with regards to this sort of banal reality.

I don't want realism. I want magic!

I agree that it would be terrible to make an overly-dramatic script, and of course there is so much more that goes on in peoples' minds then what shows through on the exterior so it is naturally difficult to express more than what could be seen on the surface. I do however believe that an important part of filmmaking is to try to add layers and dimensions that cannot be immediately seen-in fact, this is important in all art forms. There's absolutely no need to add "drama" but there really is something else that's missing. I found, in fact, that "24-hour party people" gave a much better portrayal of Ian Curtis and Joy Division. I just felt it more.

I don't want realism. I want magic!

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I think that Sam Reilly is a good actor but for me he didn't convey nearly enough of the intensity and despair that Curtis had. It maybe that it happened that way in Deborah's eyes but I thought it made the portrayal unconvincing which spoiled an otherwise interesting film.