There Will Be Blood

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Movie
German title There Will Be Blood
Original title There Will Be Blood
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2007
length 158 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
JMK 14
Rod
Director Paul Thomas Anderson
script Paul Thomas Anderson
production Paul Thomas Anderson,
Daniel Lupi,
Joanne Sellar
music Jonny Greenwood
camera Robert Elswit
cut Dylan Tichenor
occupation
synchronization

There Will Be Blood ([ ðɛɹ wɪlˠ bi blɐd ]; . Dt about "There will be blood") is an American film drama from the year 2007 . Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson , who also wrote the script. Set in Southern California around 1910, the film is about the life of a man who, through diligence, determination and unscrupulous methods, works his way up from a small prospector to a successful oil entrepreneur and multimillionaire, but is lonely. At the same time, the film describes his conflict and enmity with an evangelical preacher who struggles with him for power and influence. Anderson denied that the film should be understood as a metaphor for the United States and the present. Nonetheless, the criticism primarily understood the downside of wealth and the link between oil, capitalism and religion in America as themes of the work. The leading role is played by Daniel Day-Lewis , whose performance has received several awards. The avant-garde music concept of the composer Jonny Greenwood also received a lot of praise .

Historical embedding

1854 succeeded for the first time, the then so called petroleum Petroleum to refine . This replaced Waltran as the main fuel for oil lamps and led to an enormous boom in oil production. In the United States, the principle was that natural resources could be mined by whoever owned the land above. When it became known somewhere that oil had been found, crowds of oil seekers usually flocked to the place and tried their luck, often on very small plots. The supplies were quickly used up, also due to unprofessional extraction methods , and the oil explorers moved on. The phenomenon was repeated with new discoveries of "black gold". Overproduction and scarcity alternated and led to very strong price fluctuations for crude oil. John D. Rockefeller consolidated the market with his Standard Oil by secretly bringing refineries , railways and pipelines under his control. As a major customer, Standard Oil was able to obtain discounts on freight costs from independent railways. Refined competitors either bought or undercut Standard Oil in their region in order to ruin them. It could dictate prices to the independent producers who pulled the crude oil out of the ground. Because of its business practices, the dominant company in the United States was very hated.

In the late 19th century began electric light the kerosene lamps to replace, but the invention of the internal combustion engine and its use in vehicles and ships left the demand for oil swell stronger than ever. New, much larger supplies were discovered in Texas and California around 1900. In these states, producers independent of Standard Oil were able to establish themselves who integrated production, transport and refining, and California protected its oil economy with tariffs. Union Oil developed into the largest player there , and Standard tried to gain a foothold in California's oil production.

action

In 1898, the silver prospector Daniel Plainview digs solitary in a remote mine . Even a broken leg after falling into the shaft doesn’t stop him from taking lumps of silver and dragging himself to the next village. From then on he limps. Four years later he switched to the oil business . With a handful of employees, he undertakes a successful test drilling as a prospector in the desert. After a falling wooden beam has killed a man, Plainview takes his baby and raises him, very lovingly, as his child.

In 1911, Daniel Plainview was established as an oil man. His day-to-day business consists in stealing land, under which he suspects oil, from the small landowners cheaply. In order to win their hearts more easily, he introduces himself as a trustworthy family man and widower and passes his now ten-year-old pupil HW as his biological son. One day, Paul Sunday turns up and sells him his knowledge of rich oil deposits on a ranch in the starving Little Boston town of Southern California that belongs to his supposedly unsuspecting family.

Plainview secretly inspects the land and makes old Sunday a lesser offer, but Paul's twin brother Eli, knowing about the oil, keeps his father willing to sell it and drives up the price. In order to secure exclusive access to the deposit , Plainview plans to acquire the remaining properties. By painting in front of the community a vision of irrigation, education, and prosperity that will come with oil production, he achieves the sale of the land. Eli, influential as a preacher in the village, calls on him for financial contributions to his church, which Plainview promises but does not keep. Likewise, contrary to his original promise, he passes Eli's request to be allowed to bless the conveyor system before it goes into operation. With Eli's father Sunday he ensures that he no longer beats his daughter Mary if she does not pray. He observes with contempt how Eli stages an apparently miraculous expulsion of the spirit with furious words and gestures at the church service . When one day a worker is killed by a drill pipe, Eli takes advantage of it to demand money to build a church, but this time too he only makes an empty promise. Another accident occurs when a gas explosion causes the derrick to go up in flames and HW loses his hearing. When Eli tries to collect the promised money from Plainview, the latter beats him up and puts him in a pool of oil with the charge that Eli and his god could not protect his son.

A little later, a man appears who claims to be Plainview's long-lost half-brother Henry. Previously a tramp and often in prison, he has now heard of Plainview's success and is looking for work. Plainview offers him some, sends the deaf HW, with whom he can no longer cope, to boarding school against his will and now takes "Henry" with him to his business meetings in his place. "Henry" becomes his trusted friend. They travel to a meeting with representatives from Standard Oil , who offer Daniel a lot of money for his developed oil field, with the advice that he would then have time for his son. Plainview angrily forbids any interference in his family affairs and leaves. Shortly thereafter, he made a deal with Union Oil , to which he would deliver his oil via a pipeline , thereby avoiding the high rail freight costs. Due to a suspicion he confronts “Henry” at gunpoint on the return journey at night. He was friends with the real half-brother, admits the alleged "Henry", and assumed his identity after his tuberculosis death. But he never harmed Plainview, but was his friend. Without a word, Plainview shoots and bury the man.

A piece of land that Plainview needs for the construction of the pipeline belongs to Mr. Bandy, who is one of Eli's loyal supporters. Bandy apparently knows about the murder of "Henry" and demands Plainview join Eli's church for the lease of his land. The oil man reluctantly undergoes the baptism ritual in front of the congregation, which Eli uses to humiliate Plainviews and grotesquely staged with slaps in his face. Plainview has to admit to everyone that he has abandoned his child, which is clearly upsetting him. He can build the line for that. Although he lets HW come back from the boarding school, he remains a stranger. Eli, in turn, leaves after the growth of his local church to do missionary work in other oil production areas.

Many years later, in 1927, Plainview lived alone and as a heavy drinker with only one of his employees in a large property on the coast with its own bowling alley. HW, who has grown up, has now married Eli's sister Mary, declares his love for Plainview and wants to start his own business as an oil entrepreneur in Mexico. Plainview, who sees this as treason, mocks him and reveals that HW is not his biological son, but a useful foundling. He was worth less than a bastard. HW accepts these injuries, states that he is glad he has nothing of Plainview, and leaves. Plainview is left angry and lonely.

A few years later, after the outbreak of the Great Depression , Plainview receives an unexpected visit from Eli Sunday. The preacher secretly speculated in his church's fortune and lost it in the stock market crash ; He seeks financial rescue and offers Plainview a piece of land that he believes is undeveloped. Plainview takes the opportunity to humiliate Eli. He asks him to say loudly and repeatedly the confession “I am a false prophet and God is only a superstition”. He then mockingly explains to the preacher that the land in question is worthless because he had long since extracted the oil below from the neighboring properties. He climbs into his triumph and anger, under alcohol and with feelings of hatred, and finally kills Eli with a bowling pin . When his colleague finds him sitting next to the corpse, he only says: "I'm done."

Production and publication

script

Anderson was writing a story about a desert feud between two families. He liked the starting position very much, but as far as progress was concerned, he stepped on the spot. While on a trip to Europe he came across Upton Sinclair's novel Oil in a small London bookstore ! (1927). The novel is partly inspired by the life of oil tycoon Edward L. Doheny . “[...] I had enough good things from my own story. And then all the necessary aspects came out of the book in order to make it a complete whole. Until then, I just hadn't realized what exactly I was writing about in my story. ”He only included the first 150 to 200 pages of the novel, he had no use for the rest. He found it helpful that the novel was neither particularly good nor well-known, because there were no great expectations. The film's reviewers later found that it was very far removed from the novel and that the film had more differences than it had in common; he had adopted almost nothing of Sinclair's socially critical concerns, at most the atmosphere of the novel.

Project planning

Paul Thomas Anderson (left) and Daniel Day-Lewis 2007

Anderson already imagined Daniel Day-Lewis as the ideal cast while writing the script . He didn't dare approach the actor with an unfinished book, which is why he spent two years writing it down. "I felt a similar approach to mine in his work, the same obsession, the same passion." In fact, both are said to throw themselves wholeheartedly into their projects. Anderson finished his last film in 2002, and Day-Lewis had just four roles in the previous ten years. The British actor described himself as lazy and said he wanted to stay in his rhythm so as not to lose the joy of work.

A first attempt to raise funds for the project independently of the major studios failed and the shooting, scheduled for summer 2005, was postponed. Day-Lewis, who had already done research on his character and the oil business, declined other offers and continued to stay clear. In early 2006, it was announced that Paramount's studio film division, Paramount Classics, would produce the film. Paramount and Miramax , which belongs to the Disney group, financed the film, like several other projects, to 50% each and divided the distribution regionally. Paramount Vantage received US distribution rights and Miramax for the rest of the world.

As Anderson was writing, it was clear that such a material would not have a large budget, so he placed restrictions on himself. At its core, the film is a stage play for him, the camera of which extends out into the landscape, so that an expensive and large-looking adventure epic is created at low production costs. Only the sequence with the burning oil well was a little more complex, but it didn't take more than five days for it either. The film was estimated to cost $ 25 million to produce.

Turn

Before filming, Anderson watched The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) by John Huston , an adventure about greedy prospectors who find misfortune and death. Anderson raved about Huston's film and professed its influence on There Will Be Blood. Old documentary footage of oil crews at work was helpful. Shooting began in mid-May 2006. Paul Dano was only hired for the small supporting role of Paul Sunday. Soon after shooting began, the actor who was supposed to play Eli Sunday was separated and the role was also entrusted to Dano, who now embodied both brothers.

As with all of Anderson's other four films, Robert Elswit , who was 20 years his senior, was the lighting cameraman. Anderson maintained a way of working in which he gave the actors a lot of freedom and tried out unusual approaches. He let things take their course, and if something wasn't convincing, he stopped and started again. Some contributors, especially parts of the camera crew, who are used to precision and organization, struggled to get involved and were replaced. In addition, rehearsals and recordings flowed into one another, there was no storyboard .

The dangers of mine work did not stop at the film crew: In the old mine in Texas where they shot the opening of the film, Day-Lewis carried out the falls himself and broke his rib. Except for a digitally generated explosion, the scene with the burning derrick was pyrotechnic. The tower, which had been in the hot sun for months, burned down faster than planned, and a number of planned recordings were then canceled. Still, Anderson was happy with the sequence.

The landscape shots of the film, which is located in southern California, were mainly made in Marfa, Texas . This is the same ranch that was used as the setting for the oil drama Giants (1956). The place is characterized by the fact that you stand on a hill and cannot see anything in all directions. The Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, once built by oil entrepreneur Edward Doheny , was used as the location for the final sequences of the film, which show the old Plainview in his estate . Anderson and outfitter Jack Fisk loved the property's genius loci . The “oil” used for the photos is methyl cellulose, blackened with food coloring and harmless to the landscape . The credits announced that the film production thanks compensations bottom line CO 2 was neutral.

publication

The trade press questioned the marketability of the production before the cinema release. The US film industry paper, Variety , pointed out that two and a half hour, independently produced, male-directed films had not been successful in the period before that. The world premiere took place on September 27, 2007 at the fledgling film festival Fantastic Fest in Austin , Texas . On December 26, 2007, the film was released in the United States. It took part in the competition of the Berlinale 2008 and ran on February 14, 2008 in Germany and Austria. The film reached 151,000 German moviegoers and grossed 76 million dollars worldwide, 40 of them in North America.

Stylistic devices

music

The pieces of music that were newly written for the film were composed by the English musician and composer Jonny Greenwood , guitarist for the band Radiohead . The existing pieces used are Pärt's Fratres for cello and piano (1977), the third movement from Brahms ' Violin Concerto in D major and parts from Greenwood's Popcorn superhet receiver (2004). The musical concept reminded reviewers of György Ligeti , Krzysztof Penderecki , Philip Glass , Michael Nyman , Tōru Takemitsu , or the more bulky works of Aaron Copland . They described the style as avant-garde-symphonic, atonal and often repetitive.

Anderson and Greenwood wanted to limit themselves to plot-time instruments. The composer learned about the American church music of the time . In the remote, isolated communities there were often only small chamber groups, so he provided part of the soundtrack with chamber pieces ; he did the rest with orchestral works . The two agreed to disturb the audience with inconsistencies, hesitations and imperfections, with music that is something wrong with, that suggests that something dark is going on. It was paraphrased as a poisonous motif, dissonant, long-held tones that promise disaster like howling alarm sirens, an eerie buzz, and as haunting, distorted sounds, almost screams, which emphasize the danger, tormentedness and self-destruction inherent in the plainview. Already at the beginning cellos and double basses went into the pit of your stomach and put the audience in a humble position. The music helps to drive out the optimism of the depicted epoch of departure, creates a pervasive discomfort and informs the audience that underground forces are at work in the film.

In its review of the film music CD, the film service rated the music as an exception, "angry, irritating to contradict, but at the same time touching, actually inaudible". Variety found that it deepened the moods and meanings of the film and gave them more mystery, was exploratory and daring and, in turn, underlined the seriousness of the film. Cinema musica found that the new is of high quality and that the traditional is used innovatively and harmoniously integrated. The emotional music has a lot of depth, is excellent, "one of the most unusual compositions of the year", and can exist independently of the film.

image

The film was shot anamorphically on film material in an aspect ratio of 2.40: 1 . Elswit used the lens of a Pathé camera from 1910, which Anderson had bought years ago , for very few settings, for example when Plainview was driving a train with HW . Numerous settings show figures and landscape in either bottom view or in strong supervisors . The land shown is barren, bare and desolate, and makes people small. Film Comment said that the historical huts, makeshift buildings and systems at the oil field were perfectly replicated, unadorned and given their powerful liveliness through color, structure and a precisely measured amount of attention-grabbing details. For the Cahiers du cinéma , it is obvious that the makers were looking for large images: the wide format unites large spaces and large faces. According to Positif , this cross-cutting of faces with the vastness of the landscape leads incessantly from the cosmic to the intimate like an epic. The lighting, which emphasizes black, gray and dark brown and creates the impression that the main character never left the pits later as a businessman, is often dubious. The smoking, burning derrick also creates a hellish atmosphere above ground. When composing the final scene on the bowling alley, Anderson used the symmetry and threat of certain shots from Stanley Kubrick's films ; the image captures the room from floor to ceiling. Sight & Sound rated the style break through these interior scenes as the greatest flaw of the work.

Staging and dramaturgy

There Will Be Blood differs significantly from Anderson's previous films, which presented character ensembles in contemporary Los Angeles. Many saw in this work a turning away from postmodernism and from self-conscious auteurism back to a classic narrative form, an end to cinéphile obsession, an exit from the limitation of quotations and thus an expansion of the field. The work is neither western, epic nor tragedy, but shows elements of all these genres. The director told the story very directly, without irony and stylistic peculiarities, it was said, without melodrama, in a laconic tone, mostly thoughtful and meditative, interrupted by rough outbursts of anger, madness and tirades from the characters. Anderson wanted to be as simple and prosaic as possible: “I hope the only style in this film is Daniel Plainview's 'style'. From his perspective, the filmmaker shouldn't add anything stylistically to this. You have to try to follow the drive and the ambition and the discipline of this man as best you can. "

A few questions, about which Plainview prefers to remain silent, leave the narrative open, and the audience in the dark about HW's origin - it remains unclear whether the man who had an accident in 1902 was his father, nothing is known about the mother and neither is anything about Plainview In 1927 prompted to claim that HW was a bastard. And when Eli appears for the first time, Plainview and HW are as amazed as the audience: Whether Eli Sunday is a twin of Paul Sunday or Eli is duping someone, the film never answers to the satisfaction.

The title comes from the Old Testament , Exodus 7:19: "... that in all the land of Egypt there be blood". He announces that Plainview will come across something other than what he is looking for. The opening sequences in 1898 and 1902 together last almost a quarter of an hour and do not require any dialogue. The verbal silence, the dark images that do not allow a view of Plainview's face, and the non-naturalistic music mask his social identity. The focus is on the work, tools, the resources gained. Where close-ups are used, they apply to things, not people, and make it clear what Plainview's thinking is about. This introduction immediately conveys the character of the main character: that he is not a normal mortal, that he is determined and inexorably pursuing his plan in a daunting environment. Some saw staging similarities between the openings of There Will Be Blood and Kubrick's 2001 film (1968). The landscape and the soundtrack created a “ Darwinian continuum” between Kubrick's murderous monkeys and Daniel Plainview, and gave the oil the mysterious power of Kubrick's black obelisk.

For the next two hours, Plainview continued to act out his resolve, unhindered by morals or social habits. Anderson "grabs his audience as fast as he can, then, scene by scene, he tightens the screws." If his earlier works like Magnolia and Boogie Nights still had moments of catharsis, after which hope sprouted, this is completely missing here. The progress of the story is marked by the duel between Plainview and Eli, by a long series of mutual humiliations. Like a crack, said the New York Times , a tension between realism and theatrical spectacle runs through the film and gives it a tremendous unrest. One is constantly attracted and repulsed by the charismatic Plainview.

Representation of the main character

The common denominator of the roles taken on by Daniel Day-Lewis, as Hedden (2008) observed, is outsiderhood, alienation, whether social, political, physical or psychological. Plainview is no exception. He cannot bear to be an individual in a society and see obstacles in other people that have to be avoided. That other people have a will of their own anger him. He moves his lower jaw and seems to be chewing something all the time - probably tobacco, maybe he grinds his teeth in annoyance at other people's cheek to get in his way. He does not need to threaten anyone openly because his presence is in itself threatening; from his fists to the look and the smile to his diction, everything is a weapon. His slow, almost hypnotic pronunciation reveals that he knows exactly what he wants and does not allow rambling feelings. "Every utterance he utters is obviously prepared, every answer spoken is preceded by a quiet tact of careful consideration of how best to achieve what is intended." Several Anglo-Saxon critics claimed that Day-Lewis' speech was very similar to that of John Huston in his role in Chinatown (1974). With the carefully articulating, gloomy, authoritative diction, it is “quite possible” or “obvious” that Huston made a model. Day-Lewis revealed that he had listened to Huston in his search for old American voices and admitted that he might have taken too much from him.

Interpretations

After the premiere, Anderson emphasized in numerous conversations that in developing the story he had concentrated on the most elementary: the instinct-led fight between two men. The plot is not specifically American and it is not about oil, capitalism or religion. Although he lives in 2007 and is not stupid, he left out the political aspects of Sinclair's novel because books are better suited to it than films. Most political films are boring, so he strictly avoided a political film that tackles things head-on. He wanted to be concrete, humble and on the ground, and not preach, just show the "scuffling of two brats".

Several critics stated that the film does not openly discuss the issues, is not didactic and “does not need to be agitated”. He does not play with topicality, nor does he force the viewer into potential references to it, but the material is allegory-friendly.

Curse of wealth

An evil spirit is let out of the bottle: "Plainview is like a monster that drills and drills until the devil finds his way up." Nature takes revenge for the violence it has done by making people more hostile. Just as in fairy tales the heroes have to give up their souls for wealth received, Plainview pays with cold feeling, because existing competitors and envious people force him to a mistrust that isolates him from the affection of other people. As an extreme sociopath , he resolutely destroys all ties with other people. He longs for family ties as much as they struggle with him. De-sexualized as he is, he can only appear as a family man thanks to an "immaculate conception" thanks to a foundling .

Plainview isn't a monster, however. While Eli subjects him to baptism, he is a person who fights against humiliation. As an independent oil producer, he is also annoyed by the powerful corporations that aim to buy him out. Fatherhood seems to be the only one of his relationships that is not shaped by contracts. Despite his harsh words to HW at the end of the film, he talked, laughed, romped about and explained the world with his foster son too often for him to believe that this behavior could have been insincere.

Anderson didn't see much of a difference between explorers and filmmakers: both drilled and drilled without knowing what they were going to encounter. And whoever wants to make a film has to gossip and persuade people to finance it; manipulative language is not alien to him. He understood the frustration of having to give half of the turnover earned through hard work for transport. Anyone who shoots a film for a studio does all the work and the studio collects all the money. In the main character he did not see any monster and confessed some sympathy for their ambition and will to survive. The first oil prospectors had started out as gold and silver prospectors and, after switching to the oil business, were forced to talk to people as salespeople much more than what their inclination to work alone would correspond to. Anderson thought of the work as a horror film and partly designed Plainview after Count Dracula . Oil can be seen as the blood of the earth, which the gaunt Plainview feasts on, and it as a kind of undead buried in an accident in the mine, and of which no one knows how it got back among the living afterwards .

Many of the historic oilmen could not stop exploring for oil even after they had made too much wealth. Anderson had studied their stories: Few were happy, their stories of scandals, bribery, accidents, deaths and broken families are similar. They were all very ambitious, achieved their goals and prosperity, but were unable to contain this drive. Several critics spoke of the type of entrepreneur destined for great wealth but doomed not to be able to enjoy it. His only purpose of existence is work. The character Plainviews also found the archetype of the American entrepreneur, "somewhere between Scrooge McDuck 's first earned cruiser and Bill Gates ' garage company ". The myth and origin of the country is a "businessman who owes his career only to himself, and the innocence of those he betrays". The film is about progress and the type of person who drives it forward - a superman according to Nietzsche's imagination.

The Los Angeles Times pointed out that as the narrative progressed, Plainview's coldness, indifference, and contempt for the human increased. She ascribes the statement to the work that this is exactly what leaders in business and religion do to themselves when they deny humanity in themselves and overestimate wealth and power. The Time hinted: "What is telling Anderson that we have a travesty by the abandonment of the invaluable natural wealth of this nation to the tax, a paradise on earth in favor of selfish materialism." The critics of the time trying to film in support of his view that capitalism has gambled away its credit. Despite Anderson's denial, it is a film "about capitalism that is criminal, about prosperity that is joyless, and growth that has become a fetish". The film contrasts the life sacrificed and the material gain gained. Anderson also asks about the value and price and the mutual interchangeability of blood and oil. Georg Seeßlen pointed out Plainview's moral ambivalence: He cheats the farmers, but at the same time leads them out of misery into the modern age.

Numerous comparisons were made with the film classics Citizen Kane (1940), Giants (1956) and Chinatown (1974), in which pioneering, unscrupulous entrepreneurs pave their way. Whether Plainview is just extremely eccentric or straightforwardly crazy, his development is similar to that of Kane: Locked in a lonely palace, he falls victim to guilt, madness and alcoholism.

Religion versus capitalism

It has in release of There Will Be Blood drawn many parallels to the present: The geostrategic oil interests of the United States and thereby seen superpower Attitude, with its large corporations and strong evangelical fundamentalism. Greed and faith, church and capitalism, according to Spiegel Online , are still the drivers of American society today. The Süddeutsche Zeitung formulated very similarly that oil, faith, capitalism and the church are the “basic formula for America in general”. She sees the history of a country: “At the beginning there is only sand, stones and filthy stuff that wells up from the ground. In the end there is an industry, a country, with cities and churches. ”The New York Times read the film as a chapter in the great national history of discovery and conquest. It was an epic American nightmare, a terrifying prophecy about the coming American century.

Some critics noted similarities between the two opponents. Plainview preaching a new gospel soon to be challenged by another salesman. Eli pays homage to the same fetish as Plainview: “He greedily digs into confused souls for the milk of the pious way of thinking and leads himself to the heavenly redeemed as earthly prey.” We watch how entrepreneurship and religiosity degenerate into greed and charlatanism . The Cahiers du cinéma understood Plainviews capitalism and Eli's religion to be essentially the same - two obsessions, of which those Plainviews turn out to be the stronger because it is more determined and more radical in its lack of emotion. In the end, when he has cut himself off from all fatherly, fraternal and friendly ties, he is free in the sense that one can be free under neoliberalism . Other critics found that the way HW's alleged father applied traces of oil to the toddler's face gave the appearance of a sacred anointing or a baptism. There is an unholy trinity of oil, money and religion. But it is neither a secret nor new that oil drives some people crazy or that religion is used as a political or financial lever. Sight & Sound said Anderson might portray fundamentalist religion and predatory business as a burden on America's shoulders, but sees them as rivals rather than allies. Her psychological and physical struggle, according to the Los Angeles Times , is pure barbarism. The Tagesspiegel saw the skirmishes between Plainview and Sunday like a biblical duel between evil and evil, between "humanly bankrupt and diabolically bigoted". Der Spiegel called the strip "a kind of ' Dallas ' for intellectuals".

It's about discovering and conquering: fathers, sons, brothers fight male power struggles in a harsh, crude world. Women are almost entirely absent, and the drilling and church towers soar into the sky as a phallic allegory. Anderson described it as a competition between brats to see who had the longer one. It would have been a sin for him to graft a love story onto the film.

Reviews by the critic

Some US reviews

Variety found the film music extraordinarily original and the dialogues corresponding to the 19th century remarkable, which are somewhat theatrical and formal, clearer and more precise than one speaks today. Day-Lewis was completely absorbed in his character. The other faces seemed to have emerged from a contemporary photo, Paul Dano covered everything from polite reverence to frothy delight, and HW actor Freasier was wonderful. In terms of craftsmanship and technology, the film offers the highest quality. However, Variety notes that the character of Plainview's assistant Fletcher is too little involved in the narrative, and the ending could be confusing. The Hollywood Reporter praised the powerful performance of Day-Lewis and said that the film developed a pull from start to finish that gradually and with increasing horror draws us into the bitter worldview of the main character.

The Los Angeles Times ruled that Day-Lewis played at such a high level that the supporting cast simply faded; only Dano and Freasier could stand against him. The moral piece is wonderfully photographed, with a convincing scenery. "This is not a pretty movie". The fight between the oil man and the preacher unfolds with enough extremism and grotesque violence to shake most viewers. In terms of subtlety and figure drawing, the film is limited, which the Los Angeles Times attributed to the socialist-motivated novel and the tendency of the film to take everything, including the characters, to extremes. That is the downside of the factories' great strengths. The New York Times found Anderson was telling a story of biblical proportions about greed and envy. This is his breakthrough, because his film finally contains what his previous ones lacked: a big topic. The narrative is coherent, gaining momentum and creating unbearable tension. Day-Lewis' performance is among the best ever seen; he seems to have occupied every cell of the Plainview form, filling it with so much anger that he almost bursts. The weekly Time magazine said it was one of the most American films ever made and it was beautifully photographed. Daniel Day-Lewis portray Plainview in a towering way; The ingenious thing about it is that he shows with time and patience, as in Plainview, madness takes the place of original reason. Especially in the end, he offers the most explosive and unforgettable performance that has ever been seen on screen. Paul Dano is also excellent.

German language criticism

The German-language film review found words of praise for the musical combination, which was "most impressive" or "most unusual and disturbing", something that had been heard in the cinema for a long time, was "very ambitious" or "great". In an otherwise enthusiastic review, the only weak point for the film-dienst was that every shot was greedy for epic size, and the Spiegel reviewers found the long shots hardly bearable because of their “strenuous artistic will”. The other reviews spoke of an “aesthetic masterpiece”, a “picture-powerful backdrop” with mighty, “downright massive images”, raw, massive, archaic, thundering and massive. There were other reviews of the film as a whole, while others spoke of a “great story” that unfolded great force. "The cloak of film history is blowing violently here," said Tobias Kniebe in the Süddeutsche Zeitung , the work was "one of those great and disturbing experiences". Some reviews, for example in epd film and in the world , found comparisons with Citizen Kane and other classics appropriate. Spiegel Online estimated that making this chunk of film must have been an exhausting feat. The larger than life characters and situations are "impressive, great, tiring and again great," was the Tagesspiegel and the Berliner Zeitung noted: "Sometimes maybe a little too sublime all this, too powerful." The Cinema certified the film bulk and a slight excess length. Similarly, the world found that he was weaker in the last half hour. According to taz , Anderson shows a good sense for the visual, physical use of landscape and actors in the staging. For Spiegel Online he tells in a grandiose way, sometimes a little too elegiac.

While the Tagesspiegel found the fights between Plainview and Eli Sunday both fascinating and repulsive, Cinema missed an emotional center among the characters. In the judgment of the Tagesspiegel , Day-Lewis' and Dano's performance is absolutely praiseworthy; they give their characters very clear drawings. The world described the main character's style of play as very physical and dominant, knees as big and at the same time insane, for the time he is "gorgeous". According to epd Film , he endows his character with “tremendous power, for good and bad”. Spiegel , Standard and Cinema, however, found them mannered, exalted or like an over-stylized caricature.

Awards

Daniel Day-Lewis received the 2008 Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Drama ; the work was nominated for Best Motion Picture Drama . Total Day-Lewis received 32 nominations for film awards and won it 30 The American Film Institute counted There Will Be Blood to the ten best works of the year 2007. At the Berlinale 2008 was There Will Be Blood , two Silver Bears : In addition to directing was Greenwoods Music honored as an outstanding artistic contribution. The film also received two Academy Awards for Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis) and Best Cinematography . A nomination remained in the categories of Best Film , Best Director , Best Adapted Screenplay , Best Editing , Best Sound Editing and Best Production Design . In addition, the film was nominated for Best Foreign Film by both César and David di Donatello . “There Will Be Blood” was awarded the Grand Prix de la FIPRESCI as film of the year 2008 .

Tabular overview of the awards

price category Nominee result 
80th Academy Awards Best movie Paul Thomas Anderson , Daniel Lupi , JoAnne Sellar Nominated
Best director Paul Thomas Anderson Nominated
Best Actor Daniel Day-Lewis Won
Best adapted script Paul Thomas Anderson Nominated
Best "Art Direction" Jack Fisk , Jim Erickson Nominated
Best camera Robert Elswit Won
Best cut Dylan Tichenor Nominated
Best sound editing Matthew Wood , Christopher Scarabosio Nominated
American Film Institute Awards Top 10 films
Austin Film Critics Association Awards 2007 Top 10 films First place
Best movie Won
Best director Paul Thomas Anderson Won
Best Actor Daniel Day-Lewis Won
Best camera Robert Elswit Won
Best Score Jonny Greenwood Won
Australian Film Critics Association Best foreign film Won
BAFTA Awards Best movie Nominated
Best director Paul Thomas Anderson Nominated
Best adapted script Paul Thomas Anderson Nominated
Best Actor Daniel Day-Lewis Won
Best supporting actor Paul Dano Nominated
Best film score Jonny Greenwood Nominated
Best production design Jack Fisk, Jim Erickson Nominated
Best camera Robert Elswit Nominated
Best sound Matthew Wood Nominated
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards 2007 Best movie Nominated
Best Actor Daniel Day-Lewis Won
Best music Jonny Greenwood Won
Directors Guild of America Best director Paul Thomas Anderson Nominated
Golden Globe Award Best Actor (Drama) Daniel Day-Lewis Won
Best Film (Drama) Nominated
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards Best movie Won
Best director Paul Thomas Anderson Won
Best Actor Daniel Day-Lewis Won
Best script Paul Thomas Anderson Second
Best camera Robert Elswit Second
Best production design Jack Fisk Won
Best music Jonny Greenwood Second
National Society of Film Critics Best movie Won
Best director Paul Thomas Anderson Won
Best Actor Daniel Day-Lewis Won
Best script Paul Thomas Anderson Nominated
Best camera Robert Elswit Won
Screen Actors Guild Award Best Actor Daniel Day-Lewis Won
Writers Guild of America Award Best adapted script Paul Thomas Anderson Nominated
Producers Guild of America Awards Best movie Nominated
American Society of Cinematographers Awards Best camera Robert Elswit Won
Syndicat Français de la Critique de Cinéma et des Films de Télévision Best foreign film Won

In 2016, There Will Be Blood ranked third in a BBC poll of the 100 most important films of the 21st century .

The German Film and Media Assessment FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the rating particularly valuable.

literature

  • Anne Gielsvik: Black Blood: There Will Be Blood . In: Robert Burgoyne (Ed.): The Epic Film in World Culture . Routledge, New York 2011, pp. 296-312.
  • Gregory Allen Phips: Making the Milk into a Milkshake: Adapting Upton Sinclair's Oil! into PT Anderson's There Will Be Blood . In: Literature Film Quarterly 43: 1, 2015, pp. 34–45.
  • Christopher Sharrett: American Sundown: No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood, and the Question of the Twilight Western . In: Christopher Sharett et al. (Ed.): Popping Culture . Pearson, New York 2010, pp. 261-268.
  • Upton Sinclair : Oil! Roman (Original title: Oil! ). German by Otto Wilck . In the series Works in Individual Editions . 16.-18. Thousand. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1992, 644 pages, ISBN 3-499-15810-8 .
  • Jason Sperb: Blossoms and Blood: Postmodern Media Culture and the Films of Paul Thomas Anderson . University of Texas Press, Austin 2013.
  • Daniel Sullivan: Death, Wealth, and Guilt: An Analysis of There Will Be Blood . In: Daniel Sullivan and Jeff Greenberg (Eds.): Death in Classic and Contemporary Film: Fade to Black . Palgrave Macmillan, New York 2013, pp. 119-134.

conversations

  • With Paul Thomas Anderson in the General-Anzeiger (Bonn), February 14, 2008, p. 27: "We actually deserved eleven Oscars"
  • With Paul Thomas Anderson in the Hamburger Abendblatt, February 14, 2008, p. 9: hats on, hats off. Whistle: yes or no?
  • With Paul Thomas Anderson in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, February 8, 2008: Catholicism is hand washing after sex
  • With Daniel Day-Lewis in the Frankfurter Rundschau, February 20, 2008, p. 21: "I like going crazy"

Review mirror

positive

Rather positive

Mixed

Rather negative

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Certificate of Release for There Will Be Blood . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , December 2007 (PDF; test number: 112 628 K).
  2. ↑ Age rating for There Will Be Blood . Youth Media Commission .
  3. ^ Maugeri, Leonardo: The age of oil. The mythology, history, and future of the world's most controversial resource. Praeger, Westport CT 2006, ISBN 0-275-99008-7 , pp. 3-18; Yergin, Daniel: The prize. The epic quest for oil, money and power. Simon & Schuster, New York 1991, ISBN 0-671-50248-4 , pp. 29-55 and 78-95
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h American Cinematographer , January 2008, pp. 36–55, by Stephen Pizzello: Blood for oil
  5. ↑ a b c Richard Schickel: There Will Be Blood: An American tragedy. In: Time . December 24, 2007, accessed May 6, 2009 .
  6. ↑ a b c d Uwe Mies: There Will Be Blood . In: General-Anzeiger (Bonn) . February 14, 2008, p. 27 ( article online [accessed May 6, 2009] interview with Paul Thomas Anderson). “A story between two men” There Will Be Blood ( Memento of the original from April 17, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.general-anzeiger-bonn.de
  7. ↑ a b La joie de creuser et de dynamiter . In: Positif . March 2008, p. 10 (conversation with PT Anderson).
  8. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l La joie de creuser et de dynamiter . In: Positif . March 2008, p. 10-14 (interview with PT Anderson).
  9. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Manohla Dargis : An American Primitive, Forged in a Crucible of Blood and Oil. In: New York Times . December 26, 2007, accessed May 6, 2009 .
  10. ↑ a b c d e f Nick James : Black Gold . In: Sight & Sound . February 2008, p. 30-34 .
  11. ↑ a b c d e f g Yann Tobin: Impressionant! In: Positif . March 2008, p. 7-9 .
  12. ↑ a b Cahiers du cinéma , March 2008, pp. 12-15, by Eugenio Renzi: Des patries grandes et petites
  13. ↑ Los Angeles Times , December 26, 2007
  14. ↑ La joie de creuser et de dynamiter . In: Positif . March 2008, p. 12 (conversation with PT Anderson).
  15. ↑ Rüdiger Sturm: "I'm just a crook" . In: Welt am Sonntag . February 10, 2008 ( article online [accessed July 22, 2012] interview with Daniel Day-Lewis).
  16. ↑ Variety , January 17, 2006: 'Blood' lust for Par and Miramax
  17. ↑ a b c d e f g h Jörg Häntzschel: Catholicism is hand washing after sex. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . May 17, 2010, Retrieved September 13, 2019 (interview with Paul Thomas Anderson ).
  18. ↑ Conversation with Anderson in the Hamburger Abendblatt, February 14, 2008, p. 9
  19. ^ IMDb for There Will Be Blood , accessed December 20, 2007
  20. ↑ a b c d taz , February 8, 2008, p. 28, by Cristina Nord: The Big Boom in Little Boston
  21. ↑ Los Angeles Times, December 27, 2007: 'Blood' work: digging up a mansion's mystery ; see also the inapplicable mentions - Doheny did not live in this property himself, only his son - in American Cinematographer, Jan 2008, p. 46
  22. ↑ a b Yann Tobin: Impressionant! In: Positif . March 2008, p. 8 .
  23. ↑ a b c d Lars-Olav Beier, Martin Wolf: Blood and Blossoms . In: Der Spiegel . No. 6 , 2008, p. 136 ( online - Feb. 2, 2008 ).
  24. ↑ Celebrate good times . In: Sight & Sound . February 2008, p. 9 .
  25. ↑ a b c d e f Variety , November 1, 2007, from Todd McCarthy: There Will Be Blood
  26. ↑ There Will Be Blood premiere dates , accessed January 7, 2008
  27. ↑ Insidekino , 122nd place among the most successful films in Germany in 2008. Accessed on July 25, 2009
  28. ^ Box office mojo , accessed April 30, 2009
  29. ↑ a b Cinema Musica No. 11, issue 1/2008, p. 97, by David Serong
  30. ↑ a b c d e Film Comment , Vol. 44, Issue 1, January / February 2008, pp. 24–27, by Kent Jones
  31. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Adams, Michael: There will be blood, in: Magill's Cinema Annual 2008. Gale, Detroit 2008, ISBN 1-55862-611-5 , pp. 392-395
  32. ↑ a b c d film-dienst No. 6/2008, p. 13, by Jörg Gerle: "Wild, outrageous: Jonny Greenwood"
  33. ↑ a b Black Gold . In: Sight & Sound . February 2008, p. 34 (interview with Jonny Greenwood).
  34. ↑ a b c epd Film No. 3/2008, p. 39, by Sabine Horst
  35. ↑ a b c d e f g h Jan Schulz-Ojala: Dark life, dark death . In: Der Tagesspiegel . February 8, 2008, p. 28 .
  36. ↑ a b c d e f g h Thomas Assheuer : The madness of capitalism. In: Die Zeit , February 7, 2008.
  37. ^ Taz , February 8, 2008, p. 28: The Big Boom in Little Boston
  38. ↑ a b c d e f Los Angeles Times, December 26, 2007, Review by Kenneth Turan: There Will Be Blood
  39. ↑ a b c d e f John DeFore: There Will Be Blood. In: The Hollywood Reporter . October 1, 2007, archived from the original on April 29, 2008 ; accessed on May 6, 2009 .
  40. ↑ a b Cahiers du cinéma , March 2008, pp. 9–11, by Stéphane Delorme: Désirs de grandeur
  41. ↑ a b c Verena Lueken: I am an oil man . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . February 9, 2008, p. 33 .
  42. ↑ a b c d e Andrew Hedden: The outsider. Themes from the work of Daniel Day-Lewis. In: Cineaste , Spring 2008, pp. 8–13
  43. ↑ Cineaste , vol. 34, no. 2, spring 2009, pp. 41-42, also more succinctly formulated in Film Comment, vol. 44, no. 1, January / February 2008, p. 26
  44. ↑ a b Cineaste, vol. 34, issue 2, spring 2009, pp. 41–42, by Kenneth Dancyger: Editing for subtext
  45. ↑ a b c d Tobias Kniebe: Oil is thicker than water . In: SZ -Berlinale supplement . February 7, 2008 ( article online [accessed May 6, 2006]).
  46. ^ The New York Times, December 26, 2007; Film Comment, January / February 2008, p. 26; Variety, Nov. 1, 2007; Hedden 2008, p. 8; Time, December 24, 2007; Adams, Michael: There will be blood, in: Magill's Cinema Annual 2008, pp. 392-395
  47. ↑ General-Anzeiger (Bonn) of February 14, 2008, p. 27 ( There Will Be Blood ( Memento of the original of April 17, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to instructions and then remove this note. ); in the Hamburger Abendblatt of February 14, 2008, p. 9; in Sight & Sound , February 2008, p. 33 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.general-anzeiger-bonn.de
  48. ↑ Adams 2008, pp. 392-395
  49. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Hanns-Georg Rodek : A film like “Citizen Kane” In: Die Welt , February 8, 2008.
  50. ↑ a b c d e Andreas Borcholte: Faith, greed and brats. In: Spiegel Online . February 8, 2008, accessed May 6, 2009 .
  51. ↑ a b c Interview with Paul Thomas Anderson . In: Sight & Sound . February 2008.
  52. ↑ American Cinematographer, Jan 2008, pp. 36-37; on the horror film, see also a similar statement in: La joie de creuser et de dynamiter . In: Positif . March 2008, p. 11 (conversation with PT Anderson).
  53. ^ Daniel Yergin: The prize. The epic quest for oil, money and power. Simon & Schuster, New York 1991, ISBN 0-671-50248-4 , p. 88
  54. ^ Die Zeit, February 7, 2008, from a criticism by Thomas Assheuer; Adams 2008, p. 394, left column
  55. ↑ a b c d e f Anke Westphal: Gesalbte Gier In: Berliner Zeitung , February 9, 2008, p. 27.
  56. ↑ a b c d film-dienst No. 4/2008, pp. 27–28, by Rüdiger Suchsland
  57. ↑ Georg Seeßlen: Review of There Will Be Blood in filmzentrale.de
  58. ↑ Nick James: Black Gold . In: Sight & Sound . February 2008, p. 32 .
  59. ↑ a b c d Isabella Reicher: blood, sweat - and oil . In: Der Standard , February 8, 2008, p. 5
  60. ^ In a similar sense Berliner Zeitung , February 9, 2008, p. 27
  61. ↑ Los Angeles Times, December 26, 2007, in the criticism that Eli is no more devout than Plainview
  62. ↑ The Berliner Zeitung, February 9, 2008, incorrectly writes that it is Plainview, the ointment
  63. ^ Variety, November 1, 2007
  64. ↑ Yann Tobin: Impressionant! In: Positif . March 2008, p. 9 .
  65. ↑ a b c d Cinema No. 3/2008, p. 68, by Heiko Rosner
  66. ↑ Sabine Horst: There Will Be Blood In: epd Film No. 3/2008, p. 39
  67. ↑ Nominees - 80th Annual Academy Awards. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, archived from the original on January 23, 2008 ; Retrieved January 22, 2008 .
  68. ↑ No Country for Old Men, Juno named to AFI's Top 10 of year. In: CBC . December 17, 2007, accessed December 31, 2007 .
  69. ^ Stuart Oldham: Austin Film Critics draw 'Blood'. In: Variety . December 18, 2007, archived from the original on December 22, 2007 ; Retrieved January 19, 2008 .
  70. ↑ THE BLACK BALOON SOARS AGAIN AT THE 2008 AFCA FILM AWARDS - MEDIA RELEASE. AFCA , archived from the original on April 29, 2009 ; Retrieved January 3, 2011 .
  71. ↑ BAFTA Film Award Winners in 2008. (No longer available online.) British Academy of Film and Television Arts, archived from the original on March 9, 2012 ; Retrieved February 19, 2008 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bafta.org
  72. ^ Coen's land Critics' Choice Awards. In: BBC News . January 8, 2008, accessed January 8, 2008 .
  73. ^ Directors Guild announces nominations. In: Rope of Silicon. December 20, 2007, accessed December 31, 2007 .
  74. ↑ 2007 Golden Globe Nominations and Winners. Hollywood Foreign Press Association, accessed February 19, 2008 .
  75. ↑ Jeff Giles: There Will Be Blood, No Country For Old Men Top Critics' Awards: New York, LA, Boston and DC scribes honor the best of 2007. In: Rotten Tomatoes . Flixter , December 10, 2007, accessed December 22, 2007 .
  76. ↑ Eugene Hernandez, 'There Will Be Blood' Leads National Society of Film Critics Awards: Best Picture, Director, Actor, Cinematography. In: indieWIRE . January 5, 2008; archived from the original on January 7, 2008 ; Retrieved January 5, 2008 .
  77. ↑ Final 14th Annual SAG Awards Recipient Press Release. Screen Actors Guild , January 27, 2008, archived from the original on September 6, 2008 ; Retrieved January 27, 2008 .
  78. ^ Oscar 2007: Writers Guild Calls Off Its Awards Show. Emanuel Levy , accessed January 3, 2011 .
  79. ^ Producers Guild of America Award for Best Theatrical Motion Picture. eNotes , accessed January 3, 2011 .
  80. ^ The ASC Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography. (No longer available online.) The ASC , archived from the original on December 29, 2010 ; Retrieved January 3, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.theasc.com
This article was added to the list of excellent articles on June 12, 2009 in this version .