Queen of the desert

Movie
German title	Queen of the desert
Original title	Queen of the Desert
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	2015
length	128 minutes
Age rating	FSK 0
Rod
Director	Werner Herzog
script	Werner Herzog
production	Nick N. Raslan , Michael Benaroya , Cassian Elwes
music	Klaus Badelt
camera	Peter Zeitlinger
cut	Joe Bini
occupation
Nicole Kidman : Gertrude Bell James Franco : Henry Cadogan Damian Lewis : Charles Doughty-Wylie Robert Pattinson : Colonel Lawrence Jenny Agutter : Florence Bell Holly Earl : cousin Florence Lascelles Mark Lewis Jones : Frank Lascelles David Calder : Hugh Bell Beth Goddard : Aunt Lascelles Christopher Fulford : Winston Churchill

Queen of the Desert (Original title: Queen of the Desert ) is a US American film biography by Werner Herzog from 2015, which is based on the life of the British historian Gertrude Bell . The film premiered as a competition entry on February 6, 2015 at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival. The cinema release in Germany was on September 3, 2015.

action

The historian Gertrude Bell, born in 1868, grew up the daughter of a wealthy industrialist and was one of the few women who were allowed to study at Oxford at the time . She later travels to Tehran and explores the Ottoman Empire as a research traveler . In Cairo , Baghdad and Basra she learns languages, translates literature and meets Muslim dignitaries. After the First World War , she was involved in the border negotiations in the region as a member of the British secret service.

reception

Damian Lewis at the world premiere at the Berlinale 2015

In epd film Queen of the Desert , Barbara Schweizerhof describes a “pompous oriental saga” with “atmospheric desert shots” . For Christiane Peitz from Tagesspiegel , the film is a “Schmonzette ..., a romance with an oriental flair. 1001 nights, blown by the wild wind ”.

In her review of ZEIT Online , Carolin Ströbele wishes that Herzog would have placed more emphasis on her "exceptional role as a scientist, ethnologist, pioneer, secret service worker and ultimately as a politician on par with Winston Churchill" when staging Bell's life. Instead, too much attention was paid to romance and love scenes. "Not even an impressive nature film" had become Queen of the Desert .

literature

• Gertrude Bell: At the end of the lava flow: Through the deserts and cultural sites of Syria. Promedia, Vienna 2015, ISBN 978-3-85371-396-9
• Gertrude Bell: Miniatures from the Orient: Travel memories from Persia and the Ottoman Empire 1892. Promedia, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-85371-125-1 .

Web links

• Official German website
• Queen of the Desert in theInternet Movie Database(English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Certificate of Release for Queen of the Desert . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , August 2015 (PDF; test number: 153 864 K).
2. ^ Film data sheet on the 65th Berlinale website
3. ↑ Barbara Schweizerhof: Nothing except (bondage) jokes? epd film, February 12, 2015, accessed on February 12, 2015 . 
4. ↑ Christiane Peitz: White the vulture. Tagesspiegel Online, February 6, 2015, accessed on February 12, 2015 . 
5. ↑ Carolin Ströbele: Operation Desert Storm. ZEIT Online, February 7, 2015, accessed on February 12, 2015 .