Thomas Newton (David Bowie) is an alien who has crash-landed on Earth and is left wandering the desert, though we do not know his purpose yet. He appears to be lost and confused and, before you know it, he has wads of cash. Where did he get it? His mission is to acquire wealth beyond $330 Million through several patents of his own advanced scientific inventions. Essentially, Thomas wants the money to build a spaceship to bring water to his dying wife and children who live in an unnamed barren, desert planet. The visions he has of his planet are reflected in the New Mexico region he lives in (shot not far from White Sands). Still, despite his ambitious plans which he wishes to be expedited, human frailty succumbs Thomas. He becomes fascinated by television, to the point that he has five of them in his hotel room and they all have to be turned on. He meets a hotel worker named Mary Lou (an exceptional Candy Clark), and she falls deeply in love with him. Thomas has no real feelings towards her, certainly not love, yet sex is not exclusive. He seems to like it yet TV's are his obsession and it drives Mary Lou mad. They live as a couple in a gorgeous New Mexican countryside. When he finally gets the chance to leave Earth, Thomas is instead held prisoner in an elaborate hotel with a big TV screen and copious amounts of alcohol, subjected to various tests. Everyone throughout the years ages except Thomas (that includes Rip Torn as a professor with a predilection for younger women who is hired to work for Newton - it is an intoxicating performance that has to be seen to be believed). Newton also ch-ch-ch-changes and transforms into a Howard Hughes recluse and, due to forced exposure to X-rays, cannot remove his contact lenses that make him look somewhat human.
"The Man Who Fell to Earth" is a remarkable, troubling and fascinating film with overpowering images that will stay with me such as Newton's walk down a dilapidated hill, the TV's that form half of his bedroom, the mirror reflections in the bathroom when Newton is fixated on looking at his redheaded self, the house down by the lake as seen from Newton's point-of-view and Mary Lou's, and much more. I saw the film in the 1980's and was always taken by it - its conveyance of beauty where you least expect it is memorably etched and has informed many of Roeg's films before and after this one. Every shot is luminous and striking, evoking a sense of otherworldliness that mirrors Newton's planet with Earth - that includes the soundtrack which employs extraneous, chime-like sounds coupled with old tunes like Louis Armstrong's rendition of "Blueberry Hill." This is not an upbeat sci-fi film but rather a sad and despairing look at humanity's follies that includes greed and corruption. Newton may or may not see their follies yet he keeps a blind eye, resorting to alcoholism and a preoccupation with TV - this alien being has been corrupted by humanity's flaws. He ironically becomes human.
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