“I was considered an ugly woman who took your monument away... some of his closest friends told me that probably I should stay in the background, I should shut up”: New Lennon doc throws light on the prejudice Yoko Ono faced

There’s a new documentary on the way about John Lennon and Yoko Ono that focuses on the early years of the couple’s time in New York.

One To One: John And Yoko looks at their first eighteen months in New York and the build up to the One To One benefit gigs for Willowbrook State School, a home for special needs children in August 1972. They would be his last full length concerts.

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The documentary features fully restored footage of the shows, with remixed audio produced by John and Yoko’s son, Sean. The film also boasts previously unseen material from the Lennon archives, including phone calls and home movies recorded by Lennon and Ono themselves.

The director is Kevin Macdonald, who was also behind the camera for the Oscar winning One Day In September, as well as Touching The Void (2003), The Last King Of Scotland (2006) and Marley (2012).

“I wanted to make a film that surprises and delights even the most dedicated Lennon and Ono fans by focusing on one transformative period in their lives and telling the tale through their own words, images and music,” the director said. 

“Built around the beautiful 16mm film footage of the only full-length concert John gave after leaving the Beatles I hope the film will introduce the audience to a more intimate version of John and Yoko - while also reflecting their politically radical and experimental sides.”

The film also explores the prejudice Ono faced not only from Beatles fans, but from the group themselves. “I know for sure that whenever the reporters meet Paul, George or Ringo, they would ask, ‘What do you think about Yoko?’” she says in the film. 

“Now, whenever they ask me about the Beatles, I said, ‘Beatles are four beautiful, very intelligent, creative, artistic people… and they’ve outgrown the group.’ Whereas none of the Beatles made any comment on me. Have you heard of any comment about me in the press by the Beatles? They ignored me. That’s male chauvinism.”

“Society suddenly treated me as a woman who belonged to a man who is one of the most powerful people in our generation. And some of his closest friends told me that probably I should stay in the background, I should shut up, I should give up my work and that way I’ll be happy,” she said. “Because the whole society started to attack me, and the whole society wished me dead, I started to stutter.”

She continued, “I consider myself a very eloquent woman, and also an attractive woman. And suddenly, because I was associated with John, I was considered an ugly woman, ugly Jap, who took your monument away from you. 

"That’s when I realized how hard it is for women. If I can start to stutter, being a strong woman, it is a very hard road.”

As yet there is no confirmed premiere date for One To One: John and Yoko.