Awaited like the Messiah on cinemas’ screens before its release, Bowie's first film greatly disappointed me because of its unbearable lengths and inconsistencies, its affected poses, its morbid indolence and its lack of embodiment. The makeshift special effects, badly cobbled together to describe the Alien’s life on his home planet, were notably embarrassing. Bowie's performance left me unmoved by then, and none of his subsequent screen appearances (including his most acclaimed to date, in the Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence movie), had succeeded into changing my opinion about his acting skills. Except for The Hunger starring Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon (more for Bowie’s role, poisonous and tragic than for his performance though). Or even The Linguini Incident movie (1991),  a silly screwball comedy and quite a forgettable effort certainly, but where Bowie at least appeared in an unexpected comic register as an actor, in that movie’s broad-joking scenes. And above all, with the exception of Christopher Nolan's film The Prestige in 2006, one of Bowie’s last cinematic appearances in a truly fascinating incarnation : that of Nikola Tesla, already a source of inspiration for the Thomas Jerome Newton character, the Alien from The Man Who Fell To Earth...

Today, because passing time has changed the view that one could have of David Bowie's film career, The Man Who Fell to Earth deserves a renewed appreciation, even if its structural flaws do remain the same. And also because this movie always proved to be fundamental in the chameleon artist’s own eyes -and this for two reasons : the first being that it sealed his new pact with a discipline and an environment that were foreign to him before (Cinema, and Hollywood). The second because it sanctified his alien’s image impersonated by the Ziggy Stardust character. Thus, quite an important landmark, to the point that Bowie chose to use twice some images from that movie for his albums’ sleeves of that period : Station to Station (1976), and Low (1977).