In a Rorschach psychological test, Nan Goldin’s sister, who is undergoing psychotherapeutic treatment, sees something that she sums up in a few words: »The Beauty and the Bloodshed«. The dialectic between life and death, biography and work unfolds in Laura Poitras’ vivid documentary on photographer Nan Goldin. While Goldin’s photographs always vividly look for the intervals of happiness between the abyss, excess, addiction, love, consumption and resistance, the cinematic narrative also follows Goldin as an activist. Together with the group PAIN (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now), she managed to have the Sackler family, who were largely responsible for the marketing of opioids, taken to court. The mass prescribing of painkillers led to a sharp rise in deaths from addiction in the US.
With the hand-held camera also capturing the caring, friendly way the activists interact with each other between planning meetings and campaign activities, it soon becomes clear that human closeness remains the source of creative power. It runs through the film, as we also become cinematically immersed in the slideshows and photographs. Because following on from the photographic camera, the film now offers us the opportunity to reflect together, with Goldin’s voice-over, on how far biography and work are connected, or whether, conversely, we can also free ourselves from social dependencies through art.