One flew over the cuckoo's nest (film)

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Movie
German title One flew over the cuckoo's nest
Original title One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1975
length 133 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Miloš Forman
script Bo Goldman
Lawrence hoods
production Michael Douglas
Saul Zaentz
music Jack Nitzsche
camera Haskell Wexler / Bill Butler
cut Sheldon Kahn
Lynzee Klingman
Richard Chew
occupation
synchronization
Jack Nicholson (1976)

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is an American film by Miloš Forman from 1975 , which is set in a closed psychiatric institution and is about how a newcomer ( Jack Nicholson ) questions the prevailing order there and ultimately falls apart leaves.

The tragicomedy based on Ken Kesey 's novel of the same name was one of the greatest successes in US film history. At the 1976 Academy Awards , he won all five main prizes, the " Big Five ", in the categories of Best Film , Best Director , Best Screenplay , Best Actor , and Best Actress . Only two other films have achieved the same thing so far.

In 1993, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was included in the National Film Registry 's holdings by the Library of Congress, which includes "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" and therefore particularly well-preserved American films.

action

38-year-old inmate Randle McMurphy, who has been convicted of violent and sexual offenses, is feigning a psychiatric illness in order to evade prison labor. He is taken to a mental hospital to check his state of mind . McMurphy becomes one of 18 inmates in the ward, which is tightly run by Head Nurse Ratched, and the ninth participant in the group therapy she also leads . In the sessions, Ratched usually proceeds in such a way that she presents a patient's problem for “discussion” and then in turn persistently “digs” for answers. Sometimes it overwhelms those affected, sometimes exposes them, creates frustration and aggression among each other, deepens fears and thus also strengthens the relationship of dependency towards it.

From the first moment you can feel that McMurphy is "disturbing" here. His free spirit endangers Ratched's authority; a "duel" is emerging. He questions the prescribed drugs and secretly boycotted their use. He encourages his fellow inmates to do activities that he loves himself - basketball, card games, betting. He fails to tear a heavy washstand out of its anchoring (which he wants to pave a way outside to see the baseball finals in some bar ). His attitude, however, of having "at least tried" has an effect: the fastest with the naive, honest, tantalizing Charlie Cheswick, successively with the complex-laden stutterer Billy Bibbit, and exemplarily with the tree-long, deaf-mute “Chief” Bromden . The Indian, who always kept aloof, shows solidarity with McMurphy for the first time on his second attempt to enforce the television license for the baseball finals, which Ratched throws down again, whereupon McMurphy counters with a fantasy report that carries the others away to storms of enthusiasm as if they were actually watching the game. Shortly afterwards he dares even more when he kidnaps the occasional “day trippers” among them on an adventure trip, for which he first hijacked their bus and then even a strange ship, in order to return home after half a day of deep-sea fishing together with capital booty.

The smoldering conflicts are becoming more and more threatening. In one of his defiant attacks, Cheswick demands the return of his confiscated cigarettes; McMurphy finally gets them for him by force, which degenerates into a fight with the nurses, in which Bromden also intervenes. Ratched orders electric shocks for the three delinquents ; before that she voted to the doctors for McMurphy's stay on the ward. He, in turn, has been alarmed since he knew that he could be held here indefinitely, and stunned when he found out that the majority of the patients were volunteers. He plans to flee and he encourages “Chief” Bromden to come with him, especially since he has confided in him that he is only simulating his deafness . On the night in question, McMurphy wants to say goodbye with a party. Together with two women, Candy and Rose, he smuggles alcohol into the house and bribes the night watchman. Young Billy, not yet ready to flee, takes a liking to Candy, and McMurphy encourages him to sleep with her, which, however, significantly delays her departure.

The next morning, Ratched finds the ward devastated and most of the patients asleep on the floor, including McMurphy and Bromden. Most recently she discovers Billy in bed with Candy. When she confronts him in front of everyone, he speaks without stuttering until she announces that she will inform his mother about what has happened. A few minutes later he is found dead in a pool of blood; he cut his throat with a shard. Ratched's appeal to keep calm and carry on business as usual drives McMurphy nuts; he tries to strangle her until a nurse knocks him out. - Days later, only noticed by “Chief” Bromden, he is brought back to the station in the middle of the night. There are lobotomy scars on McMurphy's forehead ; his personality seems obliterated. Pressing a pillow on his head, Bromden suffocates him. Then he follows the path laid out by McMurphy, tears the huge washstand out of the floor, hurls it through a barred window - and disappears into the night.

Title and meaning

  • The title is based on an English nursery rhyme:
Vintery, mintery, cutery, corn,
Apple seed and apple thorn;
Wire, briar, limber lock,
Three geese in a flock.
One flew east,
And one flew west,
And one flew over the cuckoo's nest.
The wit of the counting rhyme is that geese ( geese ) in a flock ( flock ) cannot fly in different directions ( east, west ) and that the cuckoo does not build a nest.
  • Since “cuckoo” means “crazy” in colloquial American language, it makes sense to associate “cuckoo's nest” with the mental hospital. “One” can be related to the protagonist , and the title as a whole to his illusion of having come of his own free will and being able to leave as a free man.
  • Forman's work is an indictment of the tutelage of the weaker and non-conformists. Among other things, it asks the question of who has the right to decide over other people and to divide them into groups. The viewer is asked to flee from his voluntary captivity and dare to live a free life.
  • “We create institutions, governments and schools to help us in life, but after a while every institution tends to stop acting as if it should serve us, but as if we should serve it. That is the moment when the individual comes into conflict with them. "(Miloš Forman)
  • "The film encouraged many mentally ill to one outing , because he showed them as human beings." ( Michael Douglas )
  • “The film is not about mental illness. It's about a free mind in a closed system. Head nurse Ratched [...] is the super mother in extreme form, and McMurphy is the Huck Finn who wants to break out of her version of civilization. "( Roger Ebert )
  • “From the moment we are born, we are made part of a system. But what are we in this world for if not to invent ourselves? And McMurphy in his criminality, his madness and his obsession understands that better than anyone else. "( Bo Goldman )

Emergence

Kirk Douglas and his son Michael were the ones who set the first and decisive course for the film adaptation of Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest . In possession of a proof , Kirk was one of the first readers and admirers of the novel, acquired the theater and film rights and launched the stage version , in the first production of which he himself played the leading role in 1963/64. During a stay in Prague he met the young Czech director Miloš Forman , offered him the material for a film, and promised to send him the book. After that, neither of them heard from each other for ten years. When they met again, they reproached each other: Forman complained about Douglas' forgetfulness, and the latter in turn complained of Forman's rudeness. Both were based on a misunderstanding: the book had been confiscated by the Czech authorities .

In the meantime, Kirk Douglas had ceded the film rights to his son. Michael Douglas went on as a producer himself, although still as inexperienced as Saul Zaentz , whom he won as a partner. There were several reasons why they both opted for Forman. The reluctant Czech émigré was not (yet) a star director and therefore spared her tight budget; unlike the candidates before him, he played with open cards and expressed ideas about the film that aroused their interest. According to Forman later, he had a film in mind that for him was “Czech” insofar as it described a society in which he had lived for 20 years, with people who he knew how they felt.

The first script, written by Lawrence Hauben , was of little use from Saul Zaentz's point of view because it was based too closely on the novel. The second offer went to the author of the novel personally, Ken Kesey, which did not lead artistically any further and instead resulted in a "protracted, painful" dispute over money. The producer duo only had success with the engagement of Bo Goldman , who as a screenwriter had no merits , but harmonized with Forman straight away. Both went through the existing script scene by scene in daily meetings and together they developed the version that was then used during the shoot. Goldman struggled for a long time with Bromden's last sentence, which should also be the film's final sentence. His "oh, no" in the face of McMurphy's scars was too melodramatic for him. When he thought of "Let's go," Forman immediately agreed. It was the best line he had ever written, Goldman said later, and recaps the whole story again.

Casting

The director and producer do not completely reconstruct the process of finding their main actor. Michael Douglas says they tried to get Gene Hackman and Marlon Brando first, to no avail, with Forman's favorite being a third, Burt Reynolds , anyway . Forman remembers differently: At no time was his first choice other than Jack Nicholson , recommended by Hal Ashby , one of the earlier directing candidates ; and just because he was tied elsewhere for half a year, he also considered other solutions .

As for the female lead, they were initially convinced that head sister Ratched would have to be played by an actress who credibly embodied “evil personified”. Similar offers were made to several well-known actresses, including Anne Bancroft , Geraldine Page and Angela Lansbury . All canceled. When Forman's attention was drawn to Louise Fletcher , what he had in mind of McMurphy's antagonist began to change. Dramaturgically stronger now seemed to him an image that only shows her as an "instrument of evil", as someone who personally believes he is helping the patient to do them good. However, it took Forman six months and a half-dozen casting appointments before he was convinced of Fletcher's suitability and signed her - a week before filming began.

With regard to the supporting roles, Forman had a clear concept, which he also implemented to a large extent: It should be "completely unknown faces" that the viewer encounters so that, much like McMurphy / Nicholson, he clearly has the feeling of stepping into a world that is alien to him . So one flew over the cuckoo's nest brought forth some debutants, such as Christopher Lloyd . Forman cast some of his actors by playing through group therapy sessions with them in which he himself took on the role of head nurse.

For a role, however, it turned out to be difficult to track down even one potential candidate: “Chief” Bromden. In his case, Forman, who was otherwise very free with the novel, wanted to follow Ken Kesey faithfully and find a very great Indian . Since such "excesses" are extremely rare among the Native Americans, good connections and attentive helpers, patience and luck were required until the wanted person was finally "online" at a used car dealer. The fascination triggered by the imposing appearance of the 2.01 m tall ranger Will Sampson comes to life in Forman's memory as much as it does in the corresponding film scene in which McMurphy “Chief” first meets Bromden.

Locations

Forman's concept envisaged that his actors experience an authentic environment and then let them play in it. Therefore, the decision was made against an artificial setting in the studio and to search for a suitable psychiatric clinic . They found what they were looking for at the fifth, Oregon State Hospital . Not only was it the first facility where the book was read, but also the one that offered the best conditions. The film crew was given unlimited access and a usage fee of just $ 250 per day was charged. This was largely thanks to the facility's extremely open-minded director, Dean R. Brooks . His suggestion to include patients from the clinic as extras and helpers in the film work was implemented, as was Forman's idea that Brooks himself would play the role of doctor Dr. Let Spivey play.

Filming

The fact that, out of consideration for Jack Nicholson, the decision not to begin filming until January 1975 turned out to be a double advantage from Michael Douglas's point of view. This gave you half a year more time for the casting, and you filmed in the dark and cold season, which for pragmatic reasons would have been avoided, but brought out the atmosphere of the film even better.

“Natural” and “real” were the two words that those involved in the shooting heard again and again from their director, as a question (“Is it natural?”), Criticism (“That's not natural”) or demand (“It must be real "). What Forman rejected was artificiality, what he wanted was that his actors - in their roles - act as "natural" and "realistically" as possible. To get them there, he had drawn up a kind of master plan.

He himself moved into the clinic a month before filming began; he booked his ensemble a week early - for January 4, 1975. During that week, the performers spent half of the day rehearsing and the other half on their ward so they could get a feel for what it meant to be locked in . After three days they were given all sorts of items for personal use; each took what he liked from two large tables. Finally, in order to sharpen her personal “disease profile”, Dr. Brooks found a possible ailment that suited him or her and paired him with a real patient, so that both of them then went through parts of the clinical routine and program, for example group therapy, together.

The actors got used to it so well that they soon stayed in their roles, even during breaks, some even around the clock. However, they did not always know when they were taking a break, when they were rehearsing and when they were shooting. Always on the hunt for the “real” and “natural” moments, Forman liked to let the cameras run longer and the actors in the dark. From their side, however, it is repeatedly attested that precisely this ignorance had a relaxing effect in the long term and thus indirectly led to the "naturalness" that its director wanted. Vincent Schiavelli put her acclimatization in a nutshell: "What it was about was being who you would be if you were crazy."

Louise Fletcher strongly commends Forman for using multiple cameras in the group therapy sessions and thus capturing many incalculable things, including her "favorite moment", her visible blush, when Nicholson addresses her surprisingly intimately as "Mildred" (neither in the novel nor in the She had made up the first name in the script herself and only betrayed it to him). - What Forman is said to have refused, however, was to discuss the interpretation of her character with her. She had to deal with it herself and decided not to portray head sister Ratched as a "monster", but as human and credible, albeit corrupted by too much power .

The fact that Forman withheld the cinematic earnings of the day from his ensemble caused unrest at times, which only subsided after at least Nicholson was allowed to take a look. Forman's praise for him as a clever actor who knows that a better ensemble also makes him better himself may be an allusion to the fact that Nicholson is said to have been secretly rehearsing with a small company for a while because he was dissatisfied with the direction. He is also said to have only communicated indirectly with Forman at times, through the cameraman Haskell Wexler . As he himself poured fuel on the fire and questioned Forman's authority, Michael Douglas was forced to intervene. He fired Wexler and hired Bill Butler , who took over from the night of the party, but then had other commitments so that the boat excursion - the last and only non- sequential scene - was shot by a third cameraman, William A. Fraker .

Forman reluctantly gave up his resistance to the ship episode; he feared that it might take away too much of the liberating effect of the actual outbreak at the end. The fact that it took a week to film them was because - with the exception of Nicholson - everyone returned from the first trip seasick, and some had not recovered until days later. In total, the shooting lasted around three months and consumed $ 4.4 million; it was estimated at 2 million. Saul Zaentz made up for the difference by borrowing from his production company, Fantasy Records .

Film music

The musical theme sounding in the opening and closing credits , unusually orchestrated with a singing saw and wine glasses, is based on the song Release Me (Lass [t] me free). “The unusual character of the film also includes the music,” says reviewer Steven McDonald of the work of the film music composer Jack Nitzsche , “and gives it a very unsettling effect at times - even if it seems relatively normal. The score always tends to be a little weird, and sometimes it falls completely into its own little world. "

synchronization

The German dubbing was created in 1976 at Ultra Film Synchron in Munich, directed by Werner Uschkurat .

role actor Dubbing voice
RP McMurphy Jack Nicholson Manfred Schott
Mildred Ratched Louise Fletcher Judy Winter
Billy Bibbit Brad Dourif Horst Sachtleben
Chief Bromden Will Sampson Kurt E. Ludwig
Harding William Redfield Paul Bürks
Taber Christopher Lloyd Hartmut Neugebauer
Charlie Cheswick Sydney Lassick Donald Arthur
Martini Danny DeVito Mogens von Gadow
Jim Sefelt William duel Erich Ludwig
Dr. John Spivey Dean R. Brooks Harald Leipnitz
Overseer Warren Mwako Cumbuka Michael Gahr
Warden Washington Nathan George Fred Klaus
Orderly Turkle Scatman Crothers Herbert Weicker
Superintendent Kay Lee Alice Franz
Colonel Matterson Peter Brocco Bruno W. Pantel

Comparison with the novel

Ken Kesey was inspired for his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1959 through his work as a night shift assistant in the psychiatry department at Veterans Hospital in Menlo Park , California , which he used for intensive discussions with patients - sometimes under the influence of psychotropic substances (such as LSD ), which he consumed as a volunteer subject as part of the CIA research program MKULTRA .

Important differences between the novel and the film are linked to the character of the Indian chief “Chief” Bromden, especially the fact that Kesey tells the story from his perspective. The fact that Bromden suffers from paranoid schizophrenia has an impact on the style of the novel. Compared to the film, the reader receives more information from Bromden's insightful knowledge about the history of the station, especially about the manipulative behavior of the head nurse Ratched, who dictatorially commands it.

McMurphy also notices much earlier in the novel that the chief is not deaf and dumb, but keeps it to himself for a long time. Furthermore, the inmates in the book are well aware of their role as prisoners and deeply hate Sister Ratched. McMurphy makes them aware, however, of how they are instigated by Ratched to humiliate and bare one another. An extensive denunciation is portrayed in the novel .

In the novel, McMurphy's death is previously hinted at. One of his tattoos is a poker hand on his shoulder: aces and eights - the hand called Dead Man's hand , since Wild Bill , a gambler from the Wild West, is said to have had it in his hand when he was murdered.

A key scene of the novel is not included in the film adaptation: the suicide of patient Charlie Cheswick. He is one of the first to thrive under McMurphy's influence. Disappointment with McMurphy's inclusion in the system, after learning that most of his fellow patients are being treated there voluntarily, drives Cheswick to drown himself in the pool. McMurphy increasingly resigned himself in the book and thus exposes himself to the displeasure of fellow patients who cannot understand this attempted change to conform. In the film, the character seems unbroken until the end, while in the book he develops an awareness of his dwindling powers of resistance.

The screenplay, which Kesey later wrote for the producer duo Douglas / Zaentz, did not receive their approval - mainly because he insisted that it should be told from the same perspective as his novel. According to his own statements, Kesey then flatly rejected Forman's film without ever having seen it. According to a report by the Telegraph, he is said to have stumbled upon a broadcast of the film by chance while watching television, which he initially liked, until he recognized the film and switched on immediately.

Trivia

An accident occurred while filming a scene in the high security ward of Oregon State Hospital. One of the cameramen had forgotten to close the guard on a window, whereupon a patient climbed outside, fell three stories and suffered a serious shoulder injury. The regional press took it on from the humorous side; one newspaper put its article on the front page under the heading "One Flew Out of the Cuckoo's Nest".

One of the patients, who worked as a helper during the shooting and was a stutterer all his life, is said to have been so stimulated by his commitment that his illness was permanently lost.

With Sidney Lassick , the actor who played Charlie Cheswick, Forman's identification with the role took on a level that worried many. The doctors assured that they would be able to intervene with appropriate medication in an emergency. When the final scene between Bromden and McMurphy was recorded, such a situation almost came about; Emotionally overwhelmed, Lassick burst into tears and, as he did not calm down, had to be removed from the set.

Louise Fletcher , the actress who played the head nurse Ratched, later admitted in interviews that she was jealous of her professional colleagues, who were allowed to "let off steam" while she always had to be controlled and controlled. But she was professional enough to keep the distance to the ensemble ironically, even beyond the hours on the set, by staying away from the fun afterwards and retiring to the separate apartment rented especially for her. Nevertheless, she did not want to part without a personal statement, followed a spontaneous inspiration towards the end of the shooting and had a photo taken, which she shows, only dressed in McMurphy's boxer shorts, facing the camera from behind, and which she then signs with her self-chosen first name Mildred, given to everyone as a souvenir.

Reviews

source rating
Rotten tomatoes
critic
audience
Metacritic
critic
audience
IMDb

“The film is so good in many parts that one is inclined to forgive it for what went wrong. This happens, however, where the story is loaded with more meaning than it should carry, so that the human qualities of the characters are lost in the end. And yet there are these brilliant moments. "

- Roger Ebert , 1975

“Doesn't the film deserve the title“ great ”because it is manipulative , or does it deserve it precisely because it is so wonderfully manipulative? I can look at it through both filters. As a parable directed against the establishment , he will remain popular forever, but his success comes at the expense of the insane who he turns into funny caricatures . "

- Roger Ebert , 2003

"It is to Forman's credit that he never degrades patients to freaks , even though they suffer from all kinds of psychoses , but rather makes them recognizable at first glance as variations of our ego, should we ever exceed the limits of what is called" mental health " is called."

"An entertaining tragicomedy, convincing in the way the actors are guided and the milieu drawing, but at the same time questionable in the rather superficial portrayal of 'madness' that speculates on the effects of laughter and shock."

“The psychodrama, shot in 1975, not only brought Miloš Forman, who fled Czechoslovakia, the US breakthrough, but also cemented Jack Nicholson's status as a non-conformist star. […] The result is an outstanding work that skilfully combines both comic and tragic elements. The success of the film is mainly thanks to the ingenious Jack Nicholson, who McMurphy masters from minor to major down to the smallest nuance. 'One flew over the cuckoo's nest' became the final climax of New Hollywood Cinema, the American auteur cinema of the 1960s and 1970s, which soon came to an abrupt end due to the flood of unpretentious blockbuster films. "

- Filmreporter.de

Awards

The film ranks in several lists of the renowned American Film Institute :

  • 1998: 20th place of the 100 best films of all time (2007: 33rd place)
  • The role of sister Ratched , played by Louise Fletcher , reached rank 5 of the top 50 villains.
  • In the list of the 100 most inspiring films, the film ranks 17th.

DVD publications

  • One flew over the cuckoo's nest. German (mono), English (Dolby Surround), Spanish (mono). Warner Home Video 2005
  • One flew over the cuckoo's nest. Edition "Best Film". Special Edition (2 DVDs). Warner Home Video 2007

literature

  • Joanne Berry: One flew over the cuckoo's nest . One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). In: Steven Jay Schneider (Ed.): 1001 films. Edition Olms, Zurich 2004, ISBN 3-283-00497-8 , p. 596
  • Ken Kesey : One flew over the cuckoo's nest. Novel. (Original title: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest ). German by Hans Hermann. 24th edition. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 2003, ISBN 3-499-15061-1 .
  • Dale Wasserman : One flew over the cuckoo's nest. One piece in 2 acts. Based on the novel by Ken Kesey. (Original title: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest .) German by Jürgen Fischer. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1976
  • One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. New American Library; TB reprint, ISBN 0-451-16396-6 .
  • One flew over the cuckoo's nest. As told by Dominic Raacke. Audiobook on 6 CDs, 463 minutes. Patmos, Düsseldorf 2007, ISBN 978-3-491-91230-4 .
  • An episode of the documentary film series Once Upon a Time… by Antoine de Gaudemar ( ARTE France , 2011, 52 min.) Is about the film.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Milos Forman - Biography at imdb (English)
  2. a b c d e f g h i Phil Hoad : How we made One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest . In: The Guardian , April 11, 2017 (interviews with Michael Douglas and Louise Fletcher, English), accessed May 18, 2018.
  3. a b Roger Ebert : Film review from 2003 (English), accessed on May 27, 2018.
  4. a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q The Making of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest , based on Charles Kislyak : Completely Cuckoo , 2002 (English).
  5. ^ A b Sylvia Townsend : Haskell Wexler and the Making of 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' . In: World Cinema Paradise , December 19, 2014, accessed on May 18, 2018.
  6. Tim Walker : The actress recalls ... . In: The Independent , January 22, 2016 (interview with Louise Fletcher, English), accessed on May 18, 2018.
  7. Original Soundtrack (English)
  8. Entry in Arne Kaul's synchronous database
  9. Ken Kesey: One flew over the cuckoo's nest . New York, Viking Press, 1962.
  10. Eleven authors who hated the film adaptations of their books
  11. ^ Rupert Hawksley: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: 10 things you didn't know about the film . February 28, 2014, ISSN  0307-1235 ( telegraph.co.uk [accessed July 29, 2019]).
  12. ^ Richard Levine : A Real Mental Ward Becomes A Movie 'Cuckoo's Nest' , in: The New York Times , April 13, 1975, accessed May 27, 2018.
  13. a b Internet Movie Database. Trivia , accessed May 27, 2018.
  14. a b [1] at Rotten Tomatoes , accessed on February 12, 2015
  15. a b [2] at Metacritic , accessed on February 12, 2015
  16. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  17. Roger Ebert : Film review from 1975 (English), accessed on May 18, 2018.
  18. Vincent Canby : Jack Nicholson, the Free Spirit of 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' , in: The New York Times , November 28, 1975, accessed May 27, 2018.
  19. One flew over the cuckoo's nest. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  20. http://www.filmreporter.de/?cat=1&text=2004