The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is undoubtedly the most important album in the amazing career of David Bowie. Launched in 1972, this recording made him one of the most popular pop stars of the world. In just over a year, this Martian Messianism invaded the minds of young people with an addictive mix of rock 'n' roll and quirky alien sexuality, based on high-heeled boots, multi-coloured dresses and excessive makeup.

This documentary tells how Bowie came to this recording, one of the most iconic in the history of pop music. The songs, the hairstyles, the fashion and the staging merged to convert him into the biggest craze since the Beatles. The immediate success of Ziggy gave the feeling of being something perfectly planned, but the film reveals that Bowie had difficulty to come up with a suitable formula to take him to the top. Narrated by Jarvis Cocker, the film looks at this mission to the stars through the musicians and the colleagues who helped Bowie in his constant quest for fame, in a musical journey that led him to doubt his true identity, and finally forced the sudden disappearance of his alien alter ego, Ziggy Stardust.