Kurt & Courtney - Synopsis

Synopsis

The film begins with a recap of Cobain's death and the media coverage which followed. Broomfield then interviews Cobain's aunt Mary who helped his love for music when he was a child. This interview is followed up with several from friends and schoolteachers who knew Cobain when he was growing up before moving onto Cobain's relationship with Courtney Love.

After establishing the background the film moves on to detail the accusations that Cobain was murdered. Broomfield interviews Tom Grant, a private investigator who has alleged that Love may have conspired to kill her husband, and wants the case re-opened by the Seattle Police Department. Grant was hired by Love, but thinks it was just so people would believe that she was innocent. Hank Harrison, Courtney Love's father, is interviewed, and states he also believes that Cobain may have been killed in a conspiracy organized by Love. He has written two books about Cobain's death.

The film also includes interviews with Portland drug culture celeb and former stripper, Amy Squier, about her explicit and personal knowledge of Kurt and Courtney's heroin use, and an interview with punk singer and media sideshow El Duce (real name Eldon Wayne Hoke), who claimed that Love offered him $50,000 to kill Cobain. El Duce claimed in the film that he knew who killed Cobain, but said he would "let the FBI catch him". Two days after that interview was filmed, El Duce was hit by a train and killed.

The film also includes an interview with musician and friend of Cobain's Dylan Carlson, who had bought the shotgun that Cobain eventually used to kill himself with.

Broomfield eventually moves away from the alleged conspiracy and the film turns into an investigation of Courtney Love's alleged suppression of free speech. Included in the film are phone calls from MTV saying that they were pulling out of financing the film (which was completed thanks to financing from private investors and the BBC), due to presumed pressure from Love.

There is also an interview with journalist Victoria Clarke (who wrote the book Nirvana: Flower Sniffin', Kitty Pettin', Baby Kissin' Corporate Rock Whores with Britt Collins) about how Love and Cobain had threatened her while doing research for her book on Cobain and Nirvana. Broomfield includes clips in the film of the threats made by Cobain and Clarke details the story of Love assaulting her.

The film concludes with Broomfield taking the stage at an ACLU meeting (where Love is a guest speaker) in order to publicly question Love about her attempts to suppress free speech and the irony of her representing the ACLU. He is pulled from the stage by Danny Goldberg, Cobain's former manager.