Composer:
Mihály VígCast:
Lars Rudolph, Peter Fitz, Hanna Schygulla, János Derzsi, Djoko Rossich, Tamás Wichmann, Ferenc Kállai, Mihály Kormos, Putyi Horváth, Enikő Börcsök (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
This mesmeric parable of societal collapse is an enigma of transcendent visual, philosophical, and mystical resonance. Adapted from a novel by László Krasznahorkai, Werckmeister Harmonies unfolds in an unknown time in an unnamed village, where, one day, a mysterious circus - complete with an enormous stuffed whale and a shadowy, demagogue-like figure known as the Prince (Lars Rudolph) - arrives and appears to awaken a kind of madness in the citizens that builds inexorably toward violence. In thirty-nine hypnotic long takes engraved in ghostly black and white, auteur Béla Tarr and co-director-editor Ágnes Hranitzky conjure an apocalyptic vision of dreamlike dread and fathomless beauty. (Criterion)
(more)Reviews (1)
What struck me most was how accessible Werckmeister Harmonies is, patiently explaining the magic of cinematic speech to a listening audience. It does it in a minimalist and gradual way, plus it has plenty of time to do it. It is the sheer essence of the film, which for me personally fulfils the value of the Sun around which the rest revolves. My first Béla Tarr. ()