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Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché
Directed by
Paul Sng
,
Celeste Bell
PG-13
2021
1h 36m
Documentary
,
Biography
,
and more
7.1
98%
89%
6.7
Watch Free
The death of punk icon and X-Ray Spex front-woman Poly Styrene sends her daughter on a journey through her mother's archives in this intimate documentary.
More
Cast of Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché
Poly Styrene
Herself (Archive Footage)
Celeste Bell
Self/Narrator / Director / Writer / Executive Producer
Ruth Negga
Poly Styrene (voice)
Neneh Cherry
Self
Youth
Self
Bruno Aleph Wizard
Self
Kathleen Hanna
Self
Thurston Moore
Self
Vivienne Westwood
Self
Don Letts
Self
Jonathan Ross
Self
John Robb
Self
Vivien Goldman
Self
Tony Wilson
Self (Archive Footage)
John Cooper Clarke
Self (Archive Footage)
Rhoda Dakar
Self
Lora Logic
Self (Archive Footage)
Paul Dean
Self
Paul Sng
Director / Writer
Zoë Howe
Writer
See all
Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché Ratings & Reviews
Trev82usa
August 7, 2025
Great story telling of a sad story.
New York Times
Lisa Kennedy
More than a journeyman rockumentary, "Poly Styrene" is a thoughtfully finessed filial reckoning: a daughter's journey toward understanding her mother as a young artist and as a young woman of color.
AWFJ.org
Susan Wloszczyna
While other punk female artists conformed to sexy, haughty and gutsy attitudes, Styrene cared more about the state of humanity and of the world at large.
RogerEbert.com
Glenn Kenny
This is not a banal or mundane fake-objective music history doc: it's an almost real-time chronicle of a daughter coming to grips with a mother's legacy.
AIPT
Nathaniel Muir
Goes beyond normal documentaries about musician's by adding an emotional heft not usually seen. A deep dive into an icon, a woman, and a mother.
Screen Slate
Dana Reinoos
Among the finest mother-daughter documentaries.
The Weekend Warrior (Substack)
Edward Douglas
"Bell and Sng's movie does a great job reminding people that Poly Sterene was there at the very beginning and was a true inspiration."
48 Hills
Dennis Harvey
While Cliche is worthwhile for punk history buffs and X-Ray Spex fans, it falls overmuch into that almost invariably regrettable territory of Documentary As Glorified Selfie.
The Last Thing I See
Brent McKnight
Offers a close, intimate look at a genre icon as well as a fractured mother-daughter bond and the search for understanding.
Seattle Film Blog
Kathy Fennessy
When filmmakers cycle through the same photographs and video clips repeatedly, tedium can result, but [Celeste] Bell and [Paul] Sng have assembled enough material to keep things moving...
ColeSmithey.com
Cole Smithey
Punk royalty Queen gets a beautiful filmic love letter from her daughter. Poly Styrene (nee, Marianne Joan Elliott-Said). Priceless. Take that, Capitalism.
Austin Chronicle
Tim Stegall
Unique and affecting...
Reeling Reviews
Robin Clifford
Daughter Celeste tells her mom's story with deft skill and, during the course of the telling, comes to grips with her mom, her fame and how hard it was growing up in her shadows.
Reeling Reviews
Laura Clifford
Poly's daughter has done her proud with an intimate, yet all-encompassing portrait of an extremely talented and complex woman. "Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché" is yet another in a string of fabulously engaging rock docs.
AWFJ.org
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
Above all else this is a love-letter to the woman behind Poly Styrene as much as it is to the ground-breaking punk pioneer herself.
The Film Stage
Christopher Schobert
The film breaks Poly's story from the shackles of her punk contemporaries. It is an essential music documentary crafted with warmth and wit - and co-directed by Styrene's daughter, Celeste Bell.
Arts Fuse
Betsy Sherman
As a double portrait of daughter and mother, it covers a range of emotions and concludes with a moving and poetic illustration of the women's deep bond.
Cinemacy
Morgan Rojas
A warm tribute to a rocker and mother who shaved her head when she felt that people were paying more attention to her looks instead of her music. Inspiring.
NME (New Musical Express)
Leonie Cooper
This must-watch documentary tells a story often erased from rock history.
World Socialist Web Site
David Walsh
It is no secret ... that success in the commercial music or film world, for certain susceptible personalities, is often the worst thing that can happen.
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Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliche
Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliche
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