National Gallery (film)

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Movie
German title National Gallery
Original title National Gallery
Country of production France ,
United States ,
United Kingdom
original language English
Publishing year 2014
length 173 minutes
Age rating FSK 0
Rod
Director Frederick Wiseman
script Frederick Wiseman
production Pierre-Olivier Bardet ,
Frederick Wiseman
camera John Davey
cut Frederick Wiseman
The documentary gives a glimpse into the National Gallery .

National Gallery is a French documentary by Frederick Wiseman from 2014. In the style of Direct Cinema, the film provides insights into the renowned London National Gallery , one of the most comprehensive and most visited picture galleries in the world. The documentary was nominated in 2015 for the César in the category Best Documentary .

action

The documentary shows the National Gallery from the perspective of the visitors and the staff of the house and dispenses with explanatory comments, interviews and a linear narrative structure. The focal point of the documentation are the paintings themselves, which are presented in full and close-ups, as a whole or in extracts from different perspectives and in varying lighting conditions. The film scenes are without background music and convey the real noise level of the museum.

The employees are shown in their work as museum guides, museum educators, restorers, craftsmen, orderly and cleaning staff or in their responsible management functions. This gives different insights into the organism of the institution that manages the state collection of paintings and makes it available to the public free of charge.

The museum guides explain the painting technique, imagery and meaning of the paintings to visitors based on the historical context. In courses, museum educators bring visually impaired people and children closer to the pictures. The restorers work on picture frames and paintings with meticulous technique and precision. When redesigning the exhibition rooms, the lighting of the paintings is discussed. Cleaning staff ensure cleanliness and security staff direct the flow of visitors. Curators plan exhibitions and the management level makes decisions about internal and external matters, the use of the available budget and discusses public relations concepts.

The reactions of the visitors to the paintings is another focus of the documentation. The camera accompanies the museum visitors on their tour of the painting exhibition and shows them looking at the pictures. Art school students are filmed doing their painting exercises, as are dancers and poets performing their work in front of the paintings.

The sequence of images of the interior of the National Gallery is interrupted again and again by exterior scenes, from the lively Trafalgar Square and the waiting lines in front of the museum.

background

National Gallery is Wiseman's 38th documentary, which is dedicated to the inner workings of a public or private institution and already the fourth to illuminate a European cultural institution after the Comédie-Française , the Paris Opera Ballet and the Crazy Horse .

The idea for the National Gallery came up in 2010 during Wiseman's winter vacation. He happened to meet an executive at the National Gallery whom he was able to win over to the film project. Wiseman stayed in the museum for a total of 12 weeks in 2011 and 2012; Together with his cameraman John Davey, he produced 170 hours of film material. According to Wiseman, the cutting and post-processing of the raw material took 14 months.

The film was produced by the French production company Idéale Audience in collaboration with Gallery Film. The production was also financially supported by the American Public Broadcasting Service and Independent Television Service. The premiere took place on May 17, 2014 during the Cannes International Film Festival in the Quinzaine des réalisateurs section . The German theatrical release was on January 1, 2015. The DVD for the film has been in stores since May 1, 2015 and is distributed by GOOD! MOVIES.

reception

The media response to the film was very good. At Rotten Tomatoes , 96% of the 57 film reviews are positive; the average rating is 8.5 / 10. At Metacritic , the film received 89 out of 100 points out of a total of 21 reviews.

The Süddeutsche Zeitung described the film as a "homage to art and its intermediaries". Wiseman's "old work" is "a knowledgeable tour of the famous London museum, a crash course in art history" and "a clever and passionate reflection on communication and art". Die Zeit wrote that one was immersed "in the world of film [...] almost like a classic feature film" and had the "impression of direct contact" with the "microcosm" of the National Gallery. The reason for this is Wiseman's editing technique, which is "barely perceptible" and creates a calm flow between the "freely arranged, scenic fragments and images" of the camera settings.

The thematic focus of the film was perceived differently by the press. The New Yorker wrote that the “excellent analytical documentary” focuses on the museum's “self-imposed educational mandate” and shows the “modes of action without which no museum today can survive”, but which change the “fundamental character of the institution”. Bert Rebhandl , however, remarked in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that the central theme of the film was "how art is transformed into narrative through language". Through Wiseman's neutral stance, through his judgment-free presentation of the intensive conversations of the museum employees in front of the "majestic" silent paintings, the National Gallery is "a great film - completely at the height of its subject". The New York Times , however, saw the main focus of the film in illustrating how art works. In “brilliant series of pictures” Wiseman shows the “museum visitors looking at the portraits”. The paintings would bring the view back and observe "artists, art lovers and museum visitors", "how Wiseman [...] looks at us all."

The film-dienst summed up that the "rousing film" not only enables empathy with the paintings, it also has a relevance to the present "by repeatedly moving the interrelationship of image, viewer and gaze into the center" and thereby towards one another a "clever media reflection" condense.

Awards

National Gallery was nominated for Best Documentary at the Online Film Critics Society Awards in 2014 and received a nomination for Audience Award at the Chicago International Film Festival . In 2015, the film won second place at the National Society of Film Critics Awards for Best Documentary and was also nominated for Best Documentary for César .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b National Gallery. film-dienst , 26/2014, accessed on March 3, 2015 (short review).
  2. ^ Certificate of Release to National Gallery . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , November 2014 (PDF; test number: 148 784 K).
  3. ↑ Dominik Kamalzadeh: Frederick Wiseman: "My secret: I always ask if I can film". Der Standard , February 28, 2015, accessed March 18, 2015 .
  4. ↑ Roslyn Sulcas: Master of the banal and the sublime. The New York Times , November 17, 2014, accessed March 18, 2015 .
  5. ↑ Frederick Wiseman. Internet Movie Database , accessed March 18, 2015 .
  6. ^ Matthias Greuling: Interview: From the dramaturgy of chance. Wiener Zeitung , February 24, 2015, accessed on March 18, 2015 .
  7. ^ National Gallery. Epd film , accessed March 18, 2015 .
  8. ^ A b Bert Rebhandl : What a museum tells the patient. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , January 4, 2015, accessed on March 18, 2015 .
  9. ↑ Christoph Schneider: "First I have to understand what I see". Basler Zeitung , February 12, 2015, accessed on February 15, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Thomas Abeltshauser: Director Wiseman on "National Gallery". "Basic Experience". Monopol - Magazine for Art and Life , May 20, 2014, accessed on March 18, 2015 .
  11. ^ National Gallery (2014). Company credits. Internet Movie Database , accessed March 18, 2015 .
  12. ^ Matt Prigge: Interview: Frederick Wiseman talks 'National Gallery' and how 'not everything is bad'. Metro International, November 8, 2014, accessed March 18, 2015 .
  13. ^ National Gallery (2014). Release info. Internet Movie Database , accessed March 18, 2015 .
  14. ↑ NATIONAL GALLERY. Kool Filmdistribution, accessed March 18, 2015 .
  15. ^ National Gallery. (No longer available online.) Good! Movies GbR, archived from the original on June 21, 2015 ; accessed on March 18, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.goodmovies.de
  16. ↑ NATIONAL GALLERY (2014). Rotten Tomatoes , accessed March 21, 2015 .
  17. ^ National Gallery. Metacritic , accessed March 21, 2015 .
  18. ↑ Martina Knoben: At the abyss of space and time. Süddeutsche Zeitung , January 2, 2015, accessed on March 21, 2015 .
  19. ↑ Daniel Nehm: "National Gallery": Dance me the Rubens. Die Zeit , January 18, 2015, accessed on March 21, 2015 .
  20. ^ Richard Brody: Frederick Wiseman's “National Gallery”. The New Yorker , November 4, 2014, accessed on March 21, 2015 (English): “[…] superbly analytical documentary […]. The museum's self-appointed educational mission is central to the movie's action. [...] In effect, "National Gallery" is about the effort to cut through the essential institutional qualities of the institution — qualities without which no museum can survive [...]. "
  21. ↑ Manohla Dargis : Framing the Viewers, and the Viewed. The New York Times , November 4, 2014, accessed on March 21, 2015 (English): "Because his other great theme is how art speaks to us, one he brilliantly expresses in the relay of gazes that finds us looking at museumgoers looking at portraits that look right back - at artists, art lovers and moviegoers - even as Mr. Wiseman, that sly old master, looks at all of us in turn. "
  22. ^ National Gallery (2014). Awards. Internet Movie Database , accessed March 21, 2015 .