Prospero's books

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Movie
German title Prospero's books
Original title Prospero's Books
Country of production France
Netherlands
Great Britain
Japan
original language English
Publishing year 1991
length 129 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Peter Greenaway
script Peter Greenaway
after
William Shakespeare
(original)
production Kees Kasander
music Michael Nyman
camera Sacha Vierny
cut Marina Bodbijl
occupation
chronology

←  Predecessor
String Quartets 1–3

Successor  →
The Michael Nyman Songbook

Prospero's Books is a film by Peter Greenaway from the year 1991 , the "on the fabric of Shakespeare's The Tempest " is based. The film opened in German cinemas on October 24, 1991.

action

The daughter of the exiled sorcerer Prospero and the son of an enemy fall in love, and the magician's air spirit Ariel convinces Prospero to refrain from the planned revenge on traitors from his previous life. Prospero stands for Shakespeare himself in the film; he writes and tells the story as it unfolds. The complex narrative goes back to William Shakespeare's drama The Tempest .

background

John Gielgud was the driving force behind this project. He had already embodied Prospero successfully on stage several times and was planning a film adaptation of the material. He negotiated about the direction a. a. with Orson Welles , Akira Kurosawa and Ingmar Bergman , on the film music with Benjamin Britten and on the role of Caliban with Albert Finney .

The most advanced were the plans in 1967 with Orson Welles, who would also play the role of Caliban. However, after Welles' film Falstaff ( Chimes at Midnight , based on Shakespeare's character Falstaff , with Gielgud as Henry IV. ) Was not commercially successful, the financing of the project failed.

The film is divided into 24 chapters or into books marked with faded-in titles, which in turn are the titles of 24 lost works by Epicurus .

Awards

  • Frans Wamelink, Eve Ramboz and Masao Yamaguchi were nominated for the best visual effects at the BAFTA Awards.
  • At the Fantasporto film festival , Peter Greenaway was nominated for best film.
  • Peter Greenaway won the AFLS Award for Best British Technical Achievement of the Year at the London Critics Circle .
  • At the Netherlands Film Festival, Kees Kasander won the award for the best feature film as a producer .
  • At the Venice International Film Festival , Peter Greenaway was nominated for the Golden Lion.
  • At the Warsaw Film Festival in Warsaw he won the audience award.

Reviews

film-dienst : “Elaborate film adaptation of Shakespeare's fairytale drama 'The Tempest' about human self-discovery processes between illusion and reality. By expanding into a far-reaching cultural and time show, the film gains additional intellectual content alongside Shakespeare's parable world theater. However, this is endangered in its effect by a show splendor that also uses high-tech image design and is often only preserved by the great acting art of John Gielgud in the lead role. "

literature

  • Peter Greenaway : Prospero's Books. Screenplay based on " The Storm " by William Shakespeare (Original title: Prospero's Books ). German by Michel Bodmer . Haffmans, Zurich 1991, 243 (16) pp., ISBN 3-251-01107-3
  • Roland Weidle: mannerism and mannerisms. William Shakespeare's The Tempest and Peter Greenaway's Prospero's books . Essays on film and television, Volume 54. Coppi-Verlag, Alfeld / Leine 1997, 191 pages, ISBN 3-930258-53-6
  • Christian Köhler: Prospero's books. Frictions, structure and the main features of a monadology of film , Max Stein Verlag, Weimar 2008, 207 pp., ISBN 978-3-939615-03-3

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sir John Gielgud: A Life in Letters . Arcade Publishing, New York 2004, ISBN 978-1-55970-729-9
  2. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102722/trivia
  3. ↑ Peter Greenaway: Prospero's Books: A Film of the Shakespeare's The Tempest , Four Walls Eight Windows, October 1991
  4. ↑ http://www.filmevonabisz.de/filmsuche.cfm?wert=27356&sucheNach=titel