Mrs. Dalloway (film)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title Mrs. Dalloway
Original title Mrs. Dalloway
Country of production UK , USA , Netherlands
original language English
Publishing year 1997
length 97 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Marleen Gorris
script Eileen Atkins
production Lisa Katselas ,
Stephen Bayly
music Ilona Sekacz
camera Sue Gibson
cut Michiel Reichwein
occupation
synchronization

Mrs. Dalloway is a film adaptation of the 1997 novel by Virginia Woolf with Vanessa Redgrave in the title role. The film was made as a British , American and Dutch co-production.

action

London 1923: One summer morning, Mrs. Dalloway, a high society lady, goes to a flower shop. She would like to buy a few more flowers for her party in the evening. She loves to give parties and is looking forward to welcoming her guests. In the flower shop she sees a young man through the window. Septimus Warren Smith, as his name is, has suffered from a war neurosis since he lost his friend Evans at the front in World War I. He believes he is partly to blame for his death and is now dragging himself around with thoughts of suicide. His Italian wife Rezia hopes a psychiatrist can cure his delusions and depression. Septimus, who believes he can hear the shots and explosions of the war again and again through street noise and subsequently sees Evans reproachfully before him, does not want to be admitted to a sanatorium. His new psychiatrist Sir William Bradshaw cannot convince him either, but advises him urgently to take a rest.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Dalloway has returned home. There you pay an unexpected visit to Peter Walsh, an old admirer. He was in India for a long time and fell in love with a married woman there. Mrs. Dalloway is happy to see him again and invites him to her party. If she had already wallowed in memories before his visit, she now longs all the more for the time when she was still addressed by her first name Clarissa. 30 years ago she had spent a carefree time with Peter and her friend Sally at her family's country estate. Above all, she felt close to the free-spirited Sally and shared her happiest moments with her. At an evening party they danced close together in the garden and Sally gave her a kiss. Peter, passionately in love with Clarissa, courted her. That he wanted her all to himself, however, alienated Clarissa, who didn't want to let him restrict her. She eventually married the sensible Richard Dalloway, who could offer her security and give her the freedom she needed. In the years that followed, Richard became an influential politician and Clarissa became the respected Mrs. Dalloway. Mrs. Dalloway is not particularly close to her only daughter, Elizabeth. She has spent her nights alone for a long time. Doubting whether she once made the right choice with Richard, she looks forward to her party all the more, because it gives her life a certain meaning.

Meanwhile, Septimus tries to find some peace at home. When his former psychiatrist, Doctor Holmes, comes by and insists against Rezia's will to see Septimus immediately, the latter rushes out the window and is impaled by a fence.

In the evening Mrs. Dalloway receives her guests, including the Prime Minister. Mrs. Dalloway suddenly had doubts that her party would be a success. A lady threatens to bore the prime minister and Peter stands lost in the room. When Sally, who is now called Lady Rosseter and who has given birth to five sons, arrives and joins Peter, Mrs. Dalloway breathes a sigh of relief. Sir William Bradshaw, who is also invited, tells another guest about his patient's suicide, and Mrs. Dalloway panics. She doesn't want to hear stories like this at her party; after all, her guests should have fun. She then retires to her bedroom and opens a window. While Peter regrets Sally in the library that Clarissa did not marry him, Mrs. Dalloway momentarily feels the need to do the same as the young man and to throw herself on a fence. However, she closes the window and returns to her guests. Richard then asks Sally to dance. Mrs. Dalloway is dancing with Peter.

background

St. James's Park in London, where the film was set

With the request to film Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs. Dalloway , Vanessa Redgrave turned to Eileen Atkins , who should write a suitable script for her. Atkins had previously gained experience with Woolf's works at the theater. So she wrote A Room of Her Own , a one-woman show about Woolf, and put it on stage. Together with Redgrave she had in turn written and performed with Vita and Virginia a play about Virginia Woolf's affair with Vita Sackville-West . Redgrave and Atkins entrusted the production of Mrs. Dalloway to the Dutch director Marleen Gorris , who had received an Oscar in the category Best Foreign Language Film in 1996 for her film Antonia's World . Redgrave was chosen from the start for the title role. The budget was $ 4.5 million.

Filming took place from late July to late September 1996 on location in London and at Shepperton Studios . Filming locations included St. James's Park and the Burlington Arcade in London.

The film premiered in early September 1997 at the San Sebastián Film Festival . Even before the release in the production countries (Great Britain, United States and the Netherlands), Mrs. Dalloway came into German cinemas on September 4, 1997. In 2005 the film adaptation of the literature appeared on DVD.

Reviews

For the lexicon of international film , Mrs. Dalloway was "a literary film adaptation with some staging weaknesses, which, however, captivates through the psychologically differentiated emotional confusion of the central figure and the virtuoso interpretive art of the leading actress".

According to Cinema , the film is “perfect in terms of equipment, dramaturgy, rhythm and cast”. "Skilful" are also "the change of time levels" and "clever the linking of the different narrative threads". The "leisurely pace and the apparent lack of action of the story about the contradiction between beautiful appearance and true wishes" were viewed by Cinema as "[e] twas problematic". All in all, this “film against the signs of the times, a film that is worth getting involved in”. Vanessa Redgrave is "as usual sovereign" in a "[g] eleven [n] adaptation of the novel of the same name by Virginia Woolf".

Elke Schmitter wrote in 1997 for Die Zeit that Marleen Gorris' adaptation, which “indulges in colors and clothes”, is “an ideal” and “extremely clever set-up film about a class of society that is drowning in its set-up.” However, Vanessa Redgrave is in her role "A little too personable". Emanuel Levy of Variety said that Redgrave was "perfectly cast" as the older lady of high society in this "very romantic" and "deeply melancholy drama". With her “very musical and sonorous voice” she conveyed “Mrs. Dalloway's changeful feelings in a brilliant way”.

Awards

The film took part in the Golden Shell competition at the San Sebastian Film Festival , but was defeated by Claude Chabrol's Life is a Game . In 1999 Eileen Atkins received the Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Screenplay .

German version

The German dubbed version was created by Studio Babelsberg Synchron. Joachim Kunzendorf was responsible for the dialogue book and the dialogue direction .

role actor Voice actor
Mrs. Clarissa Dalloway Vanessa Redgrave Barbara Adolph
young Clarissa Natascha McElhone Claudia Lehmann
Peter Walsh Michael Kitchen Friedhelm Ptok
young peter Alan Cox Viktor Neumann
Lady Rosseter Sarah Badel Roswitha Hirsch
young Sally Lena Headey Carola Ewert
Richard Dalloway John Standing Wolfgang Condrus
young Richard Robert Portal Matthias Klages
Hugh Whitbread Oliver Ford Davies Helmut Ahner
Septimus Warren Smith Rupert Graves Patrick Winczewski
Lady Bruton Margaret Tyzack Tilly Lauenstein
Sir William Bradshaw Robert Hardy Werner Ehrlicher
Miss Kilman Selina Cadell Sonja German
Lucy Amanda Drew Andreschka Grossmann
Aunt Helena Phyllis Calvert Anne Wollner
Lionel, Clarissa's father John Franklyn-Robbins Erhard Köster
Joseph Breitkopf Rupert Baker Ernst Meincke
Doctor Holmes Denis Lill Raimund Krone

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Roger Ebert: Mrs. Dalloway . In: Chicago Sun-Times , March 6, 1998.
  2. ↑ Christine Geraghty: Now a Major Motion Picture: Film Adaptations of Literature and Drama . Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Plymouth 2008, ISBN 0-7425-3820-6 , p. 58.
  3. ↑ Mrs. Dalloway. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed February 19, 2020 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  4. ↑ cf. cinema.de
  5. ↑ Elke Schmitter: Thinking never sleeps . In: Die Zeit , September 5, 1997.
  6. ↑ “Perfectly cast, Redgrave portrays a middle-aged society lady. […] A highly romantic, deeply melancholy drama, […]. With her richly musical and resonant voice, she conveys brilliantly Mrs. Dalloway's changing emotions. " Emanuel Levy: Mrs. Dalloway . In: Variety , September 12, 1997.
  7. ↑ Mrs. Dalloway. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing file , accessed on February 22, 2020 .