The way of all flesh (1976)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The way of all flesh |
| Original title | The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1976 |
| length | 105 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 18 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Lewis John Carlino |
| script | Lewis John Carlino |
| production | Martin Poll |
| music | John Almond |
| camera | Douglas Slocombe |
| cut | Antony Gibbs |
| occupation | |
| |
The way of all flesh (German alternative title: Jonathans Rache ) is an American drama from 1976. Directed by Lewis John Carlino . The script is based on the 1963 novel Gogo no eikō by Yukio Mishima .
action
After the untimely death of her husband, the widow Anne Osborne has been living alone with her 14-year-old son Jonathan and a housekeeper in the English port city of Dartmouth (not mentioned in the film) for almost four years . Jonathan secretly meets with a small group of classmates, led by the narcissistic and sadistic "boss" who only addresses his "subordinates" with numbers for the sake of discretion. The “boss” has some questionable points of view. In his view, morality is just a collection of rules of the adults and the weaker must be eliminated by the stronger, only in this way the “purity” of a group can be preserved. He lends his argumentation emphasis by anesthetizing a cat that has become weak and sluggish in his eyes with prepared milk and then dissecting it.
When Jonathan gets house arrest as punishment for his late night escapades and tidies his room out of boredom, he discovers a knothole in the wall of his mother's bedroom behind, through which he watches his mother from then on, including masturbating. When the steamer Belle docks in port, Anne organizes a guided tour of the ship for the seafaring enthusiast Jonathan by the second officer Jim Cameron. Anne reciprocates with a dinner in which the two get closer. The sexual intercourse, observed by Jonathan through the knothole, takes place. After Jim's departure you stay in touch by correspondence. When Jonathan reads one of the letters to his friends, the "boss" recognizes Jim's planned return as a weakness and betrayal at the sea.
When Jim returns, he and Anne decide to get married. One night Jonathan falls asleep behind the knothole, the light shining through the hole reveals what he is doing. Anne is extremely angry, but Jim tries to smooth things over. Jonathan enters the events in his diary, when the "boss" reads the same, the group decides to eliminate the now "imperfect" Jim like the cat. Under a pretext, he is lured up a lonely hill and anaesthetized with prepared tea. The film ends with a zoom-out when Jim passes out.
criticism
The lexicon of international films criticized the film as a "unsuccessful" and "lengthy [...]" adaptation of the literary original. The film is particularly interested in the “aesthetic surface”.
Awards
In 1977 Sarah Miles was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress . Jonathan Kahn was nominated as the best young actor .
Web links
- The way of all flesh in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Way of All Flesh on Rotten Tomatoes (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ The way of all flesh. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed July 24, 2015 .