Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for A Complete Unknown!

In adapting Bob Dylan’s story for the big screen, A Complete Unknown filmmaker James Mangold left out a crucial relationship from the singer’s life. The 2024 biopic follows Bob Dylan’s life in the 1960s, starting with his arrival in New York City and ending with his set at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. The story shows how Dylan’s skyrocketing fame impacted his romantic relationships with Suze Rotolo and Joan Baez.

Though the film hits on most of the biggest aspects of his life during the time period, A Complete Unknown omits one significant romantic relationship that started in 1964 and impacted Bob Dylan’s life long after the film. This choice left some Dylanologists disgruntled and confused a month after the biopic’s theatrical release.

A Complete Unknown Doesn’t Include Bob Dylan’s First Wife, Sara Lownds

Bob Dylan Married Sara Lownds in 1965

One crucial relationship that A Complete Unknown left out is Bob Dylan’s romance and eventual marriage to Sara Lownds, née Shirley Noznisky. According to Far Out Magazine, Lownds was a former model who worked for big-name companies like Playboy and Harper’s Bazaar, named “Lovely Luscious Sara Lownds” in the latter. She eventually started working as a secretary in the film section of Time Life – though she played a more active role in the company – where she met Bob Dylan in 1964.

They started a romance that year after she split with her pH๏τographer husband, Hans Lownds, with whom she shared a daughter, Maria. Since A Complete Unknown covers this period, it seems like she would’ve been included in the film. This is especially true considering they’d also gone on vacation together before the 1965 Newport Folk Festival (via Variety).

Lownds and Dylan also secretly married only a few months after the movie ends. She was pregnant at the time with their first child, Jesse, meaning they were Sєxually involved leading up to A Complete Unknown’s ending. After their marriage, the pair had three more children, and Dylan adopted Maria. They stayed married for twelve years. Instead of including Lownds, the 2024 biopic shows Bob Dylan in a relationship with a different woman named Bekah in 1965.

Bob Dylan & Sara Lownds’ Relationship Overlaps With His Joan Baez Romance

Bob Dylan Dated Multiple Women At Once In 1964 And 1965

The timing of Bob Dylan’s relationship with Sara Lownds isn’t the only reason why it’s shocking that Lownds didn’t appear in A Complete Unknown. Sara Lownds’ relationship overlapped with his romance with Joan Baez, which is central to the 2024 biopic. Bob Dylan and Joan Baez’s relationship ran from either 1962 or 1963 (the timeline is unclear) until just after Dylan’s 1965 UK tour. Depending on when Lownds got together with Dylan, he might also have been three-timing Lownds, Baez, and Suze Rotolo – since he ended his relationship with the latter woman in 1964, too.

The link between his relationship with Joan Baez and Sara Lownds is also complicated. Bob Dylan’s old manager, Victor Maymundes, thought it perplexing that the singer married Lownds instead of Baez. According to Far Out Magazine, he asked Dylan about his decision on who to marry, and Dylan said this: “Sara will be home when I want her to be home; she’ll be there when I want her to be there; she’ll do it when I want her to do it. Joan won’t be there when I want her. She won’t do it when I want to do it.”

If this allegation is true, it feels like a slap in the face to both Baez and Lownds, who don’t deserve to be viewed as objects. Ultimately, Dylan’s relationship with Lownds would have provided more context about the dynamic between the two folk singers and their messy breakup.

Why A Complete Unknown Left Out Sara Lownds

James Mangold Hasn’t Addressed The Reason Sara Lownds Isn’t In A Complete Unknown

Considering the timing of the relationship, its significance to other A Complete Unknown characters, and the duration of the marriage, the question naturally comes up as to why Sara Lownds isn’t in the film. Unfortunately, the creative team behind the 2024 biopic hasn’t provided a statement on this topic. As such, it’s left to speculation.

It’s possible that James Mangold wanted to depict Bob Dylan as more palatable rather than showing him as cheating with multiple people at once. The filmmaker also could’ve left out Lownds to maintain her privacy since she doesn’t live a public life. Mangold also might have felt it was easier to handle a love triangle than a love square. Because there isn’t a concrete answer, the decision to leave Lownds out of A Complete Unknown remains one of the many questionable creative choices.