Winner of the Best European Film at this year's Cannes Directors' Fortnight, Control is a cool Brit film directed by Dutch photographer Anton Corbijn. After hearing Joy Division's first album Unknown Pleasures, Corbijn struck up a long-lasting connection with the band which would eventually result in him directing this honest and heartbreaking film.

It depicts the brief life of talented Manchester musician and enigmatic genius Ian Curtis, lead singer of Joy Division, based on the the biography 'Touching the Distance,' written by Ian Curtis's long suffering wife Deborah Curtis. Control's release comes against the backdrop of the news of the recent death of Factory Head Tony Wilson, which makes it even more poignant.

The film opens in urban Macclesfield which Anton Corbijn has cleverly shot in a monochrome light that characterised Joy Division's videos, 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' being the obvious example.

The film stays faithful to the book, showing Curtis as a wide-eyed teenager, playing records in his room and displaying an infatuation for shy, sweet Deborah Woodruff (played well by Samantha Morton).

Similarly Sam Riley's performance as the mysterious, beguiling and ultimately contradictory Ian Curtis seems uncannily accurate.

The film shows Curtis working at the job centre, helping those who are disabled apply for benefits. Away from his job, we see him at Iggy Pop and David Bowie gigs with Deborah and beginning to hang out with friends who later will form the band with him.

Control follows the rise of Joy Division - from days when we they were seen as fascistic under their first name of Warsaw, the impact of the single Transmission, through to Ian's haggling to make sure they got on a crucial television show, the sweaty gigs in cavernous locations and the anxieties of signing for a record label.

The likes of Joe Anderson playing bassist Peter Hook, James Anthony Pearson as Bernard Summer, Harry Treadaway as drummer Stephen Morris and Toby Kebbell particularly lively as abrasive manager Rob Gretton, make for a stirring cast.

The film focuses on frontman Curtis, the eclectic live performances, the impact of alcohol and experimental drugs, the introspection, his search for identity, the growing problem with epilepsy and the drift towards Belgian groupie and later mistress Annik (Alexandra Maria Lara), much to the dismay of his wife Deborah, left to bring up their baby largely alone.

I approached Control knowing the songs, the story, and having read the book. Certain aspects are excellent: the colour of the film particularly. It's a brave and worthwhile decision to shoot it in the black and whites.

On the plus side, it's particularly illuminating to witness Ian before his epilepsy takes hold, helping a girl with epilepsy at the job centre, who then has a fit in front of him. It's illuminating to know that that was the original inspiration behind arguably Joy Division's She's Lost Control.

Overall this is an honest portrayal of epilepsy around the 80's period when the drugs available for epilepsy were failing patients.

Certain aspects of the book don't make it: chiefly the music press side is omitted - you only really get an impression of the band's rise to success in the film from the fact that they began to do TV appearances and the live performances became grander.

Also in the book, there is a greater impression of the epilepsy - both in terms of when it first manifested itself and when it was getting worse. Deborah describes how the first fit was at a gig where there was strobe lighting (not shown in the film) and how for certain live performances, Ian was struggling to perform in between multiple fits. We're shown one or two seizures, but could have been shown more to really get an impression that they were becoming a problem. In the book, Deborah suggests Ian did a lot of research into his own epileptic condition, but that isn't shown in the film.

The book and film are clearly slanted towards Deborah (away from Annik) since it comes from Deborah's biography. Also the film accentuates a note written to Annik before Ian's suicide but doesn't give the same mention to a note written to Deborah (never disclosed) as suggested in the book. That said I think it adequately describes what was happening in Ian's life at the time of his suicide, suggesting that Ian couldn't face the prospect of the band's oncoming tour of the States.

The book goes further than the film in describing the reactions after Ian's death and I would have hoped that maybe the film could have included a few minutes of that, including the reactions of Tony Wilson and the band to the funeral, beyond the monosyllabic meeting over a drink in the pub that is shown. In a sense the film finishes more abruptly than it might have done.

There are many many positives however. The humour of the band comes through, the music, the acting, the casting of all the leading band members and of Rob Gretton and Tony Wilson is first rate, and the recreation of the live performances is good.

The film deserves its award from Cannes and will do well. It is heartbreaking to watch and the kind of film you need to see more than once. It will refuel many Joy Division fans' love of a great band and at the same time attract new fans to the superb sounds that are now a source of inspiration for modern-day bands like the Editors and Interpol.