Matilda (1996)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title Matilda
Original title Matilda
Logo de la película Matilda.JPG
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1996
length 94 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Danny DeVito
script Nicholas Kazan , Robin Swicord
production Liccy Dahl , Danny DeVito , Michael Shamberg , Stacey Sher
music David Newman
camera Stefan Czapsky
cut Lynzee Klingman , Brent White
occupation

Matilda is a 1996 American comedy film directed by Danny DeVito . It is a film adaptation of the 1988 novel Matilda by Roald Dahl .

action

Little Matilda Wurmwald is born into a family that couldn't be more unsuitable for her. Her parents Harry and Cynnia Wurmwald are superficial and completely disinterested in her and leave her alone for hours every day. At the age of four, she taught herself to cook and read on her own. However, her parents do not notice her talent because they watch TV all the time, which is why Matilda goes to the library alone and independently every day to read there. There she discovered a variety of books for herself, such as the novel Moby Dick by the writer Herman Melville , The Pickwickiers by Charles Dickens and Whom the Hour by Ernest Hemingway . Harry and Cynnia's disinterest in their daughter goes so far that they miss Matilda's schooling. When Harry "forced" Matilda to watch TV one evening, Matilda was so disgusted by it that the TV suddenly exploded. Matilda isn't sure she caused the explosion herself. The next day, Harry Wurmwald gets into a conversation with Agatha Trunchbull in his car dealership, to whom he sells a cheap but rather broken car. In return, Trunchbull found Matilda a place at Malheim Elementary School, which Matilda is very happy about.

However, on her first day of school, Matilda sees the headmistress trunchback tossing a girl through the air by her blonde pigtails, and since then she's been afraid of her. The stories of her new classmates, for example about the dreaded Trunchbull, in which she locks children up for hours, are causing her more and more concerns. The "air separator" is a dark chamber with huge pointed nails attached to the inner walls. The school cook is not exactly child-friendly either, but her teacher Florentine Honig, unlike the principal, is very nice and enthusiastic about Matilda's extensive knowledge. Miss Trunchbull contemptuously rejects her proposal to move Matilda to a higher class. She, Mrs. Knüppelkuh, is a former Olympic hammer throwing participant and always acts according to her motto “When you go to the child, don't forget the whip” (originally a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche's Also sprach Zarathustra , which refers to women). She throws children out of the window as a punishment and forces an overweight boy who allegedly stole something from her cake to eat a whole chocolate cake in front of the entire school. When the car she bought from Matilda's father breaks down completely, she takes out her anger on Matilda and locks her in the air separator.

Miss Honey frees her, which annoys Miss Trunchbull even more. When she then yells at and harassed Matilda in front of the assembled class, she uses her mental power to make a glass with a newt fall over. She wants to explain it to Miss Honey, who encourages her to believe in herself, but sees Matilda's supernatural mental powers as an infantile pipe dream. A friendship develops between the two, in which Miss Honey tells Matilda of her dark secret: her father was a wealthy doctor who died under mysterious circumstances when she was five years old. Her mother had already died before that, which had prompted her father to hire her stepsister as a tutor for her - Agatha Trunchbull. After his death, Miss Honey was completely at the mercy of her aunt's harassment until she could finally move out. Matilda then decides to help her.

She discovers her telekinetic skills and learns to control and use them in a targeted manner. So she first fetches some personal belongings from the house that rightfully belong to Miss Honey. The next day she used her strength to drive Miss Trunchbull from school. Thereupon Miss Honey becomes director and moves back into her parents' house. Because Matilda's father Harry traded in illegal and stolen auto parts, the family has to flee abroad from the police. But since Matilda wants to stay with her teacher under all circumstances, she has her parents sign the adoption papers in favor of Miss Honey and henceforth lives with her. So both get the family they have always wanted.

Reviews

Susan Wloszczyna praised Mara Wilson's game in USA Today .

Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times that Danny DeVito was on the same wavelength as the author of the novel when he filmed his macabre vision. But the film is also amusing.

"DeVito, who has been behind the camera for a long time since The Rose War , knows how to handle Roald Dahl's famous novel: his canvas version of the surreal fairy tale is crafted at the highest level and filled with fantastic, original ideas."

- Cinema

“Filmed from a children's book by Roald Dahl in a somewhat inconsistent style between evil caricature and cheerful fairytale-likeness. The macabre scenes with the monster-like school principal overwhelm younger children. "

- Lexicon of international film

Awards

Remarks

The cost of producing the film was $ 36 million and grossed $ 33 million in US theaters. Lucy Dahl (* 1965), the daughter of writer Roald Dahl, on whose children's novel Matilda from 1988 the film is based, was co-producer.

Unlike the novel, which is set in England, the film, shot in California, is set in the United States. Accordingly, the Wurmwald family did not flee to Spain, but to Guam . In addition, Matilda loses her strength in the novel at the end. In the film she still has them, but in the end she uses them less often (narrator from the off : " And Matilda never had to use her powers again, well, almost never ").

The public library Matilda visits is the Pasadena Public Library on East Walnut Street in the city of Pasadena, California .

There are some allusions to Roald Dahl in the film. The portrait of Miss Honey's father Magnus is actually a portrait of Roald Dahl. Even when Matilda promises herself by the name of Charles Dickens , it is an allusion to the novel Sophiechen and the Giant von Dahl, where a character constantly promises himself by Dickens' name.

The car that Miss Trunchbull bought is a 1970 Buick Electra .

In one scene, four-year-old Matilda throws an opened can of soup into the trash can in the kitchen. It is a red and white soup can from the American brand Campbell Soup Company , as immortalized in 1962 by the pop artist Andy Warhol in his work. In the scene in which Matilda practices using her telekinetic skills to control the use of her telekinetic skills at home in the living room by flying playing cards around, the rock and roll song Little Bitty Pretty One by rhythm and blues singer Thurston Harris from 1957 can be heard the song Send Me on My Way by the rock band Rusted Root can be heard twice, once in the scene in which Matilda is baking herself pancakes, and again at the end during a quickly edited scene assembly.

Matilda's nasty brother Michael Wurmwald, played by actor Brian Levinson , wears t-shirts from grindcore band Napalm Death and heavy metal band Judas Priest .

occupation

The dubbing took place at Hermes Synchron GmbH in Potsdam under the dubbing direction and based on a dialogue book by Andreas Pollak.

actor role German voice:
Mara Wilson Matilda Wormwood Oona Plany
Embeth Davidtz Miss honey Susanna Bonaséwicz
Pam Ferris Agatha Trunchbull Evelyn Meyka
Danny DeVito Harry wormwood Klaus Sunshine
Marion Dugan cook Barbara Ratthey
Rhea Perlman Zinnia wormwood Margot Rothweiler
Jacqueline Steiger Amanda Thripp Julia Kaufmann
Jimmy Karz Benno Breikopp Konrad Bösherz
Paul Reubens FBI agent Bob Santiago Ziesmer
Jean Speegle Howard librarian Maresi Bischoff-Hanft
Kira Spencer Hesser Hortensia Maria Koschny
Brian Levinson Michael Wurmwald Robert Stadlober
Jon Lovitz Game show host "Mickey" Eberhard Prüter

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Summary on www.rottentomatoes.com
  2. ↑ Chicago Sun-Times
  3. ↑ Cinema.de
  4. ↑ Matilda. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  5. ↑ gross profit
  6. ↑ German synchronous index: German synchronous index | Movies | Matilda. Retrieved February 19, 2018 .

Web links