Timothee Chalamet poses for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'A Complete Unknown' in London, on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)
To a Bob Dylan noob like me, A Complete Unknown forced me to set down my prejudices and pick up folk music. I cannot do justice to Bob Dylan—artistically, spiritually, or historically; people spend their entire lives appreciating his art. Published, academic papers analyze his lyrics, so profound is his songwriting.
He’s one of Time’s top 100 most influential people of the 20th century: He is a “master poet, caustic social critic and intrepid, guiding spirit of the counterculture generation.” He is the only songwriter to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize; he didn’t show up to receive it. In short, I can’t do the man Bob Dylan justice in a short article.
So, let’s stick with reviewing the 2024 film, A Complete Unknown, starring Timothée Chalamet (Bob Dylan), Monica Barbaro (Joan Baez), Edward Norton (Pete Seeger), and Elle Fanning (Sylvie Russo), directed by James Mangold.
A Complete Unknown: Is it accurate?
Parental guidance is advised. The movie includes profanity, heavy drinking and smoking, and references to sex.
The biopic dramatizes Dylan’s early career, centering around two love interests. One is a historical person, folk singer Joan Baez, and a fictionalized woman, Sylvie Russo, who is nevertheless based on Dylan’s first wife, Sara Lownds. The dramatization focuses on Dylan’s famously cryptic persona and vagabond personality—an artist in the truest sense of the word.
Dylan’s inscrutable psyche is inseparable from his artistic genius. Although his early folk music and brilliant songwriting propelled him to stardom, A Complete Unknown explores his fight to find creative freedom, in the midst of winning—and losing—relationships.
The musical genius of A Complete Unknown
The movie is an outstanding accomplishment on the musical merits alone. Chalamet, Gen Z’s idol and celebrity crush, doesn’t coast in this monumental role. He recorded 40 Bob Dylan tracks for the film. You can listen to the cast’s original performances on the movie’s soundtrack. Their commitment to musical veracity is borderline insane. They used old microphones to capture similar audio quality, archival, period-piece guitars or their replicas, and didn’t use earpieces.
The unadulterated passion for artistry in the film floored me. For artists of any stripe, it’s hard to imagine how this film won’t inspire you.
What can Christians learn from A Complete Unknown?
Very few explicit mentions of religion were made, but existential questions, including those pertaining to the Civil Rights movement and the Cold War, feature prominently in the movie. However, I want to focus on the theme of artistic integrity.
The film climaxes when Dylan uses a full band and an electric guitar to play at the Newport Folk Festival—and receives violent reactions from the crowd and the festival leaders. Profound, moving art is contentious. It divides. It will, to paraphrase a line in The Complete Unknown, “strike you down to the ground.”
The canon of Christian Scripture, sixty-six books, is art—literature. It is the greatest collection of art in existence. And it surely divides people.
“The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)
Is Bob Dylan a Christian?
Dylan came to see the Bible as more than just beautiful literature, becoming a follower of Jesus in the late 70s and creating several gospel records. While he’s since been inconsistent, associating with Chabad, a Hasidic Jewish movement, at times, or saying music is his only true faith, he, as recently as 2022, said, “I’m a religious person. I read the scriptures a lot, meditate and pray, light candles in church. I believe in damnation and salvation, as well as predestination. The Five Books of Moses, Pauline Epistles, Invocation of the Saints, all of it.”
My point is not to interrogate Dylan’s faith. Instead, it is to point out that great art is a reflection of God’s creative powers. When we read the Bible as a list of rules, a science textbook, or anything but the kind of literature God inspired the original authors to write and pass down orally, we miss its power and beauty.
The Bible, just like a once-in-a-lifetime artist, like Doestoevksy, da Vinci, or Dylan, will “strike you to the ground.”
But it’s more than that.
Are Artists above the consequences of sin?
Dylan’s erratic lifestyle eventually alienates his two love interests. His quiet, nonchalant persona is admirable regarding his treatment of fame and stardom. Dylan’s commitment to his artistic vision is laudable. Dostoevsky, one of the greatest authors and thinkers in history, was a Christian—and a raging gambling addict. You cannot separate a person’s life from their art, but even so, the greatest artists cannot escape the consequences of foolishness and sin.
I’m sure that Dylan would agree.
Do you appreciate the Bible, not just for how it tells us to live, but for its artistic beauty? Just as we cannot separate the artist from the art, we cannot separate God from his beautiful Word.
How can you give him glory for his Word, today?
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