The Inertia Variations, a beautiful and moving 84-minute film, directed by Swedish documentarian Johanna St Michaels, is now available for the first time on Blu-ray and DVD as of 28th November (UK) / 5th December (US) 2025. Without this documentary, Matt Johnson would not have awoken from his creative torpor to start writing and releasing music again, including his first new studio album in nearly a quarter century, Ensoulment, as well as The Comeback Special (2018) and Ensouled (2024-25) world tours. This film was the catalyst for everything that followed in its wake.
Internationally premiered at CPH:DOX in Copenhagen in 2017, The Inertia Variations enjoyed a run of sell-out screenings at cinemas across Europe and the USA, including Edinburgh International Film Festival. It was for the Edinburgh Festival programme notes that Niall Greg Fulton so beautifully summarised this documentary:
Taking its inspiration from the eponymous book of poems by John Tottenham, Johanna St Michaels’ The Inertia Variations is a deep, moving, and meaningful insight into the life and work of Matt Johnson from THE THE.
The film opens with images of an animated Johnson overseeing the rooftop installation of a striking, illuminated sculpture (an artistic representation of a radio mast) to symbolise the birth of his ‘shortwave radio’ station Radio Cinéola. Turning the clock back to the outset of this project, we find Johnson gradually extracting himself from the clutches of creative inertia and embarking on his mission to harness a dying medium and hijack the airwaves. Preparing to communicate with the world once again, he muses on the highs and lows of the creative process, contemplating his prolonged silence as a singer/songwriter and revisiting his highly successful career in the 1980s-90s.
As the launch of Radio Cinéola draws near, the pressure mounts to write and perform a new THE THE song for broadcast. Having not sung for over a decade, Johnson initially wrestles with the resurrection of his musical alter-ego – but time, life, and art eventually conspire to provide him with the perfect bittersweet inspiration. It’s a fraught and emotional journey, and when we finally reach its poignantly joyful resolution, St Michaels’ film blossoms as we witness a powerful new THE THE rising majestically from the daunting memories of past glories, fuelled by love, loss, and Johnson’s deep spiritual obligation to his art.
Captured at a pivotal point in his creative life, The Inertia Variations is an endearingly candid picture of this extraordinary British artist, and with the enigmatic Johnson valiantly exposing his heart on his sleeve, St Michaels has turned his hesitation at the artistic crossroads into a compelling work of conceptual art in its own right.
– Niall Greig Fulton
This documentary never had a physical release – until now. The beautifully-designed 84-page hardcover mediabook features the full documentary on Blu-ray and DVD, along with six exclusive live performances by Matt and guests from the original broadcast.
Watch the trailer HERE
“St Michaels is able to integrate herself into intensely personal worlds and in doing so blurs the lines between private and public perception to provide telling glimpses into realms that we all know exist but rarely see on screen.”
– Jason Wood, Executive Director of the BFI
“The story behind THE THE’s enigmatic disappearance, a quiet epic of a character study”
– Huck
“A welcome, unconventional return from one of the country’s most erudite artists.”
– The Scotsman
“Striking, intense and powerful”
– Northern Soul