The new Bob Dylan biopic, A complete unknownDirected by James Mangold and starring Timothée Chalamet, it traces the songwriter’s journey from his arrival in New York City in 1961 to his groundbreaking “electric” performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. One of the key figures in Dylan’s life during this time, as we learn, was his first serious girlfriend, played by Elle Fanning.

In the film, her name is given as Sylvie Russo. In fact, Sylvie Russo is entirely based on Suze Rotolo. According to Mangold, interviewed in Rolling StoneIt was Dylan who wanted the character’s name changed for the film. “It was a character that I felt – and I think Bob very much agreed with this when we talked at the beginning – was the only one who wasn’t a celebrity and wasn’t an icon in and of itself and was kind of a public one had personality,” he said. “Everyone else is ready to run the gauntlet and has been in this game for a long time. And Suze was just a real person. And in a lot of ways, among all these eccentric characters, Elle plays our entry point, or a more normal kind of citizen, if you will. She looks a lot more like someone we know. And Bob just felt like he didn’t want to subject her to that.”

The name may have been changed – and some other details were changed – but A complete unknown leaves no doubt about the importance of Sylvie/Suze to Dylan’s awakening as an artist. If anything, Fanning’s performance fails to capture the fiery spark and vibrant energy that defined Rotolo.

Dylan met Rotolo in July 1961 at the “Hootenanny” folk concert at Riverside Church. “I thought he looked strangely old-fashioned,” Rotolo wrote in her 2008 memoir. A free time, “Charming in a dry way. His jeans were as wrinkled as his shirt and even in hot weather he wore the black corduroy hat he always wore…but there was something about him that radiated an intensity that should not be taken lightly.”

Rotolo grew up in a left-leaning, working-class household and was actively involved in the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a leading organization in the civil rights movement. She introduced Dylan to New York’s art, politics and social scenes, influencing his creative and cultural development. (Unlike in A complete unknownshe did I manage to take him to see “Guernica” at the Museum of Modern Art.)

A free time offers a comprehensive account of a passionate and tumultuous relationship marked by both mutual inspiration and major challenges, including societal expectations of gender roles, Dylan’s meteoric rise to fame, and his penchant for juggling women. Rotolo reveals moments of joy and connection, but also delves into times of alienation, such as when she left for Europe in 1962, which triggered Dylan’s feelings of abandonment and led to songs like “Tomorrow Is a Long Time” and “Boots of Spanish Leather.” .

Of course, she also describes the shoot behind the iconic cover photo Bob Dylan on the loose Album. They were as cold as they looked. (Unfortunately, Rotolo’s green coat comes to an unfortunate, ashy end due to a suspicious house fire.)

Some of the book’s most revealing moments include excerpts from Rotolo’s own notebooks from this period, such as this one from 1964: “I believe in his genius, he is an extraordinary writer, but I do not consider him an honorable person. He doesn’t necessarily do the right thing. But where is it written that this must be the case in order to achieve great things in the world?”

Although A complete unknown shows Sylvie attending the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, Rotolo was not present at the event. However, a month later she was present at Dylan’s concert in Forest Hills. “(He) was nervous about jumping into the future where he wanted to be.”

In a moving scene Into the unknown, Bob and Sylvie confront the painful reality of their unraveling relationship through a chain-link fence. The barrier between them is a metaphor for the growing divide created by Dylan’s fame.

What Into the unknown What is not elaborated upon is that a crucial turning point in Bob and Suze’s relationship came when she became pregnant with Bob’s child. The couple’s joint decision to have an abortion and the emotional toll it took marked the beginning of the end for them.

For everyone who is interested in the character of Sylvie Russo A complete unknown, A free time is required reading. It’s an incredible insight into the cultural and political climate of the early 1960s in New York’s Greenwich Village, a harrowing look at the emotional cost of fame (from a victim’s perspective), and of course a haunting portrait of Dylan’s transition from folk-singing Jerk to, well, jerk and global icon.

Rotolo died in 2011 at the age of 67.