Abstract

This paper examines Better Man (2024), the feature film biopic directed by Michael Gracey and centered on British pop icon Robbie Williams, through the intersecting lenses of production, narrative structure, and public reception. The film’s unusual use of a computer-generated chimpanzee to portray Williams transforms the conventional biopic into an experiment in self-mythologizing, spectacle, and confession. By tracing the aesthetic and symbolic strategies of the film, this study argues that Better Man functions less as documentary biography and more as a cinematic self-portrait of alienation and identity performance. Its mixed critical and commercial reception reveals tensions between authenticity, self-representation, and public expectations surrounding celebrity confession in the twenty-first century. Ultimately, Better Man stands as both an act of self-therapy and a meta-commentary on the impossibility of telling the “truth” of a performer whose career has always been predicated on the unstable boundaries between sincerity and showmanship.

1. Introduction

Biographical cinema occupies a paradoxical space between history and imagination. While promising insight into real lives, it must select, interpret, and dramatize events through aesthetic form. This tension is heightened when the subject of the biography is not only alive but also actively involved in the creation of their own cinematic narrative. Better Man is a rare case of this phenomenon: a film written with the cooperation of Robbie Williams himself, directed by Michael Gracey—who previously helmed The Greatest Showman—and framed as a musical exploration of fame, shame, and self-acceptance.

From its announcement, Better Man distinguished itself from traditional celebrity biopics. Instead of casting an actor to play Williams, Gracey used a motion-captured CGI chimpanzee to represent him for much of the film. This choice provoked both fascination and bewilderment, but it encapsulated the film’s central thesis: that fame transforms human identity into spectacle, that the performer becomes both object and animal—an entertainer watched, commodified, and caged.

This paper investigates how Better Man constructs and deconstructs Robbie Williams’s self-image. It considers (1) the film’s production context and visual design, (2) the narrative structure and its treatment of “truth,” (3) critical and commercial reception, and (4) the broader implications for how celebrity confession and self-representation function in the post-authentic era of popular culture.

2. Literature and Contextual Framework

The relationship between fame and self-alienation has long been central to popular music studies. Simon Frith (1996) and Graeme Turner (2014) note that the pop star’s identity is inherently performative, constructed through media representation as much as personal agency. For scholars such as Chris Rojek (2001), the celebrity autobiography—whether textual or visual—becomes an act of controlled vulnerability: revealing enough to seem authentic while maintaining the brand’s narrative coherence.

Biopics of musicians often participate in this process of mythmaking. Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), Rocketman (2019), and Elvis (2022) all dramatize personal demons alongside triumph, turning psychological conflict into spectacle. Gracey’s Better Man enters this lineage but diverges sharply in form. Instead of seeking verisimilitude, it embraces allegory and meta-fiction. In this regard, it recalls Todd Haynes’s I’m Not There (2007), in which multiple actors embody facets of Bob Dylan. Yet where Haynes fragments identity across personas, Better Man concentrates it into a single symbolic body—the animated chimpanzee.

Williams’s own career has been defined by oscillation between bravado and fragility. As scholars such as Ellis Cashmore (2010) and Sean Campbell (2013) observe, Williams’s post-Take That image embodied a distinctly British masculinity marked by irony and self-deprecation. His candid interviews about addiction, anxiety, and self-hatred both fueled and subverted his celebrity. Better Man amplifies this pattern by literalizing the metaphor of the “performing monkey”—the entertainer trapped within expectations of endless performance.

3. Production: Ambition, Risk, and Symbolism

3.1 Conception and Creative Control

Development of Better Man began in 2021, with Gracey collaborating closely with Williams to reinterpret key moments from the singer’s life. The film was financed through an international consortium, reflecting both its scale and its global aspirations. Williams re-recorded several of his own songs, arranged to correspond with narrative beats rather than chronological release order. This decision aligns with Gracey’s stated intent to create “a re-imagined musical, not a documentary” (Gracey, 2024).

Williams’s involvement complicates authorship. By contributing to script, soundtrack, and performance, he functions simultaneously as subject, author, and character. This blurring of creative boundaries is central to understanding Better Man as an exercise in self-curation rather than objective biography. The film’s very existence thus becomes part of the ongoing performance of “Robbie Williams.”

3.2 The Chimpanzee as Metaphor

The use of a digital chimpanzee to embody Williams is both audacious and thematically coherent. Gracey explained that Williams had long described himself as feeling like “a performing monkey.” By visualizing this metaphor, the film transforms psychological truth into visual spectacle. The chimpanzee body signifies both animalization and vulnerability: the performer as both object of affection and derision.

Technically, the production required extensive motion-capture and visual effects teams. Jonno Davies performed the physical role, while Williams provided facial references and partial vocal work. The hyper-real animation creates a disquieting effect—the audience recognizes human emotion in an inhuman form. This uncanniness mirrors the estrangement at the heart of fame itself: the sense of being seen yet not truly recognized.

3.3 Spectacle and Scale

Gracey’s background in commercial and musical filmmaking is evident in Better Man’s lavish set-pieces. The recreation of the 2003 Knebworth concert merges archival footage with digital reconstruction, blending documentary realism with stylized choreography. Another sequence, the “Rock DJ” number shot on London’s Regent Street, mobilized hundreds of extras and complex CGI to reproduce a delirious public performance. These scenes situate Williams’s personal story within a broader commentary on the machinery of entertainment.

The production’s ambition was matched by its vulnerability to real-world disruptions—most notably the death of Queen Elizabeth II, which delayed key shoots and increased costs. The resulting budget, estimated at over $100 million, underscores the producers’ intention to position the film as a global prestige musical rather than a niche British biography.

4. Narrative Structure and Emotional Cartography

4.1 The Journey Archetype

Better Man follows the recognizable arc of the musical biopic: ascent, fall, and redemption. Yet rather than externalizing this as career trajectory, Gracey internalizes it as a psychological odyssey. The film opens with the older Williams reflecting on his life, then spirals into dreamlike flashbacks populated by his younger selves, critics, and family figures. The plot collapses chronological time, emphasizing repetition over progress—the endless recurrence of self-doubt.

4.2 The Internal Critic

A recurring motif involves Williams confronting spectral versions of himself—embodiments of his internalized shame. These figures mock his vanity, expose his insecurities, and accuse him of inauthenticity. Such scenes dramatize the recursive logic of celebrity self-scrutiny: every attempt at self-knowledge is refracted through the gaze of others. The result is a form of cinematic self-analysis, merging pop psychology with surrealist allegory.

4.3 The Absent Mirror: Authenticity and Surrogate Bodies

By replacing Williams’s human form with a chimpanzee avatar, the film denies audiences the conventional pleasure of recognition. Instead, it asks viewers to project empathy onto a nonhuman surrogate. This strategy foregrounds questions of authenticity: does truth reside in physical resemblance, or in emotional correspondence? The chimp’s expressive eyes and awkward gait evoke pathos, yet the artifice reminds us that all celebrity images are mediated.

4.4 Redemption as Integration

The film’s climax occurs not in a triumphant comeback concert but in an interior confrontation, where the protagonist symbolically wounds himself and achieves self-acceptance. This moment transforms the familiar redemption trope into psychological integration. Williams does not escape his demons; he learns to coexist with them. In Jungian terms, Better Man dramatizes individuation—the reconciliation of shadow and persona.

5. Reception: Critical, Commercial, and Cultural Dimensions

5.1 Critical Response

Upon release, Better Man polarized critics. Many praised its daring form and emotional candor, while others found its symbolism overbearing. RogerEbert.com awarded the film four stars, citing its “astonishing sincerity beneath absurdist imagery.” The Guardian called it “a bananas gamble that somehow pays off,” though noting moments of distraction. Conversely, Variety described it as “a therapy session disguised as a musical,” suggesting that the metaphorical device alienated general audiences.

Despite divergence, critics agreed on its ambition. The film was nominated for sixteen AACTA Awards and won nine, including Best Film, Best Direction, and Best Visual Effects. This institutional recognition contrasts with its modest commercial returns, indicating critical respect without mass resonance.

5.2 Commercial Performance

Financially, Better Man underperformed. With a global gross of approximately $22 million against a budget exceeding $100 million, it was labeled a box-office disappointment. The film performed strongest in the UK and Australia, territories where Williams retains iconic status, but struggled in North America, where his fame never reached comparable levels. Analysts cited limited cultural recognition and the unconventional premise as barriers to entry.

The disparity between critical acclaim and commercial weakness parallels Williams’s own career trajectory—mass adoration in Europe, relative obscurity in the United States. The film’s reception thus mirrors its subject’s uneven global identity.

5.3 Audience and Fan Discourse

Post-release discourse among fans was equally divided. On social media, some hailed the film as “brutally honest,” while others found the CGI choice distancing. For longtime admirers, the film’s emotional transparency confirmed Williams’s reputation for self-exposure; for casual viewers, it risked self-indulgence. Audience polling nonetheless showed 83% positive reactions, indicating that those who saw it often connected with its message of vulnerability.

5.4 Scholarly and Cultural Interpretation

Within cultural commentary, Better Man has been read as a case study in post-authentic celebrity culture. Critics such as Anne Helen Petersen (2025) argue that the film marks a turning point where self-disclosure becomes spectacle: confession aestheticized into brand maintenance. By transforming private struggle into public art, Williams continues the late-modern tradition of the therapeutic celebrity—one who converts pain into performance.

6. Theoretical Discussion: Truth, Performance, and the Celebrity Self

6.1 The Biopic as Confession

Following Michel Foucault’s analysis of confession as a ritual of truth-production, the celebrity biopic can be understood as a confessional technology. It demands that the subject narrate transgression and redemption within a moral frame. In Better Man, this structure is literalized: Williams’s character repeatedly “confesses” to internal judges who represent both the audience and the media. Yet because the film’s form is allegorical, the confession becomes aesthetic rather than moral—truth as emotion, not as evidence.

6.2 The Nonhuman Mask

The chimpanzee avatar complicates the politics of confession. By denying the human face, the film resists the voyeurism typical of celebrity autobiography. Instead, it confronts viewers with the spectacle of artifice. The animal body functions as both shield and revelation: a means of expressing vulnerability while deflecting prurient scrutiny. This strategy aligns with Donna Haraway’s notion of “companion species,” blurring distinctions between human and nonhuman as a way to rethink identity and empathy.

6.3 Shame and Spectacle

Williams’s long public struggle with shame—manifest in interviews and lyrics—finds visual embodiment here. The recurring motif of audience gaze, paparazzi flash, and mirror reflection situates shame as the affective core of fame. Drawing on Eve Sedgwick’s theory of shame as both isolating and relational, Better Man shows how humiliation binds performer and public in mutual dependence. The chimpanzee, exposed yet uncomprehending, crystallizes this dynamic: a creature loved for performing pain.

6.4 Reflexivity and Self-Mythologizing

By producing his own biopic, Williams participates in what Richard Dyer terms “star discourse,” the continual negotiation between image and authenticity. The film’s reflexive structure—its subject shaping his own portrayal—renders “truth” inseparable from self-mythologizing. The result is not deception but meta-authenticity: honesty about the impossibility of pure honesty.

6.5 The Aesthetics of Therapy

Many reviewers described Better Man as therapeutic cinema. This label, while sometimes dismissive, captures an essential quality of contemporary celebrity culture. As Eva Illouz (2008) notes, emotional disclosure has become both moral currency and market commodity. The film’s closing gesture—self-acceptance through pain—thus operates as affective resolution for both protagonist and viewer. It assures audiences that confession, even mediated by CGI, can still produce catharsis.

7. Broader Implications

7.1 The Limits of Authenticity

Better Man challenges conventional notions of authenticity. In replacing the human with the artificial, it suggests that sincerity need not depend on realism. The film’s emotional truth lies in exaggeration, not transparency. In an era when deepfakes and digital avatars blur ontological boundaries, such a gesture feels prophetic: authenticity itself has become performative.

7.2 Cultural Geography of Fame

The film’s uneven international reception underscores the cultural specificity of celebrity. Williams’s narrative resonates in Britain, where tabloid culture and class consciousness frame his journey from Stoke-on-Trent lad to global entertainer. Outside that context, his story lacks mythic traction. The failure of Better Man to translate commercially therefore illustrates how biographical cinema depends on shared cultural memory.

7.3 The Gendered Politics of Vulnerability

While often lauded for emotional openness, Williams’s vulnerability is mediated through a masculine lens. The chimpanzee body—muscular, grotesque, comical—renders his pain both visible and safe. Unlike female pop stars whose confessional narratives are often pathologized, Williams’s self-exposure is framed as courageous introspection. Better Man thus participates in the reconfiguration of masculine emotionality in post-#MeToo celebrity culture.

7.4 Industry Lessons

From a production standpoint, Better Man illustrates the risks of high-budget experimental biography. Its financial losses may discourage studios from comparable ventures. Yet its critical success may encourage independent filmmakers to treat the musical biopic as a site for formal innovation rather than formulaic repetition.

8. Conclusion

Better Man is neither a definitive portrait of Robbie Williams nor a conventional biopic. It is an experiment in cinematic confession, a hall of mirrors where the pop star confronts his own image rendered literally in another species. By translating emotional truth into allegorical spectacle, the film transcends documentary accuracy and enters the realm of symbolic autobiography.

Its production demonstrates the tension between self-expression and self-commodification; its reception exposes the limits of empathy in the marketplace of fame. Whether viewed as artistic vanity or courageous self-analysis, Better Man crystallizes the paradox of celebrity authenticity in the digital age: that the truest confession may be the one that admits its own artifice.

In this sense, the film fulfills its title ironically. Williams’s “better man” is not a moral or rehabilitated self, but a reconciled performer—one who recognizes that performance itself is the only available form of truth. The chimpanzee, caged yet expressive, remains an indelible image of our contemporary condition: humanity seeking redemption through the mirror of its own creation.

References

Cashmore, E. (2010). Celebrity Culture. Routledge. Dyer, R. (1998). Stars. British Film Institute. Foucault, M. (1978). The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1. Vintage. Frith, S. (1996). Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music. Harvard University Press. Gracey, M. (2024). Interview on Better Man production. Screen Australia Journal. Illouz, E. (2008). Saving the Modern Soul: Therapy, Emotions, and the Culture of Self-Help. University of California Press. Petersen, A. H. (2025). “The Post-Authentic Celebrity.” The Atlantic. Rojek, C. (2001). Celebrity. Reaktion Books. Sedgwick, E. K. (2003). Touching Feeling: Affect, Pedagogy, Performativity. Duke University Press. Turner, G. (2014). Understanding Celebrity (2nd ed.). Sage Publications. Various critical reviews from The Guardian, RogerEbert.com, ScreenRant, and Variety (2024–2025).