Don Juan DeMarco

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Movie
German title Don Juan DeMarco
Original title Don Juan DeMarco
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1995
length 97 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Jeremy Leven
script Jeremy Leven
production Francis Ford Coppola
Patrick J. Palmer
Fred Fuchs
music Michael Kamen
camera Ralf D. Bode
cut Antony Gibbs
occupation

The film Don Juan DeMarco is the directorial debut of screenwriter and psychotherapist Jeremy Leven . It was shot in the USA in 1995 . Psychiatrist Jack Mickler ( Marlon Brando ) wants to treat a young New Yorker ( Johnny Depp ) who believes he is Don Juan DeMarco. But it is not the patient who changes; the doctor is infected by the patient's romantic point of view.

action

A young man pretends to be don Juan DeMarco. He is in New York with a black Zorro mask , a wide cape and a sword. He is very eloquent and has polished manners. He has loved over 1,500 women, he claims, and has learned since his youth to play on a female body like a Stradivarius violin .

But Doña Anna, his only true love, turned him down. So one evening he stands on a roof and wants to commit suicide. The experienced psychiatrist Jack Mickler can dissuade him by getting involved in his game and introducing himself to him as Don Octavio del Flores. Don Juan DeMarco is admitted to the psychiatric clinic, Dr. Mickler is fighting to take over the case. His fellow psychiatrists are skeptical that Mickler will retire in ten days. Also after ten days, the judge is to decide whether Don Juan deMarco will remain in the clinic.

Mickler makes a deal with his patient: If he can convince his therapist that he really is Don Juan DeMarco, then he will arrange for his release. If he fails to do this, don Juan will voluntarily take his psychotropic drugs. Don Juan tells, among other things, of his childhood in Mexico, the death of his father and his time in a harem . But instead of healing don Juan of his illness, the psychiatrist has increasing doubts about his own mental health. He sees all the missed opportunities in his life. Don Juan is an attentive observer of his therapist, tells him the truth in his face: "You need me for a transfusion because your blood has dried up in your veins and your heart has silted up." Jack Mickler's wife Marilyn takes the change of her psychiatrist husband at first astonished, then visibly benevolently true: your husband is experiencing a second spring, he observes his wife and looks at her again through don Juan's eyes.

At the end of the ten-day therapy, the patient knows what matters to the judge: He gives the "correct" answers and is released immediately. The final scene shows two happy couples on the island of Eros: The Mickler couple are enjoying the love they have found again, and Don Juan deMarco can hug Doña Anna in his arms.

Reviews

  • The " Jump Cut Magazine " saw - thanks to Johnny Depp - " very charming moments " in the film and found it " full of clever irony and a belief in the power of the imagination ".
  • “ An excellent pleasure ” - this is the criticism of the film magazine “ Prisma ”. Despite the sometimes somewhat sloppy staging, the critic was particularly impressed by Johnny Depp's performance.
  • The magazine “ Cinema ” sees the directorial debutant and psychotherapist Jeremy Leven directing unerringly and avoiding kitsch, particularly emphasizing the harmonious presentation of the leading actor trio.

useful information

  • Johnny Depp watched the fantasy film Fantasy Island (1978) several times during the filming to improve his Spanish accent.
  • The Latino - singer Selena starred in the movie, a mariachi singer. Marlon Brando said the following sentence when he saw her on the set : " She is a very special and very beautiful girl. She has a gift. " Don Juan DeMarco premiered on April 7, 1995; a week earlier (March 31st) the singer was shot dead by the president of her fan club. Selena recorded four songs for the film soundtrack, including a duet with British musician David Byrne ( God's Child (Baila Conmigo) ). After her death, some scenes that had already been shot with her were cut from the film.

Awards

The film song " Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman? " (Composed by Michael Kamen , performed by Bryan Adams ) was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe in 1996.

The German Film and Media Assessment FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the title "Particularly valuable".

Book about the film

Based on the script by Jeremy Leven, Signet Verlag, which is part of the Penguin Group, published a novel version of the film under the same title in 1995 , written by the American writer and painter Jean Blake White. A German translation by Caspar Holz was published in the same year by Goldmann Verlag in Munich .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See DNB 945606117