Wonderwall (film)

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Movie
German title Wonderwall
Original title Wonderwall
Country of production United Kingdom
original language English
Publishing year 1968
length 85 - 92 minutes
Rod
Director Joe Massot
script Gérard Brach ,
G. Cabrera Infante
production Andre Braunsberg
music Tony Ashton ,
George Harrison ,
Colin Manley
camera Harry Waxman
cut Rusty Coppleman
occupation

Wonderwall is a British film directed by Joe Massot from the year 1968 , which at the Cannes Film Festival was shown on 17 May 1968 for the first time publicly. The main roles were played by Jack MacGowran and Jane Birkin . The film was best known for its soundtrack composed by then Beatles member George Harrison .

action

Professor Collins is a somewhat quirky scientist who lives very secluded and whose apartment is just as quirky. His neighbor Penny Lane lives next door with her boyfriend, a photographer. One evening, Collins is disturbed by loud music from the neighboring apartment and he discovers a hole in his wall through which he can watch Penny during the photo shoot . Fascinated by this colorful world on the other side of the wall, he drills more holes in the wall, continues to watch Penny and thus becomes a passive part of her life. Collins becomes addicted and fakes illness on his job just so he doesn't miss a moment of Penny's life. In his dreams he even sees his neighbor in his apartment, but cannot touch her because she is separated by an invisible wall. So he settles more and more in front of the hole in the wall and builds a pedestal out of his furnishings so that he can see better. So he keeps dreaming and he sees himself and Penny as lovers in front of the altar.

One day Penny's boyfriend breaks up with her and Collins sees his chance now. He secretly sneaks into the brightly colored neighboring apartment and quickly hides in the closet when he notices that Penny is coming home. So he experiences how the desperate young woman wants to take her life out of lovesickness. At first he just thinks the gas tap on the stove was accidentally opened and he closes it. When he goes to check on Penny, he finds her asleep because she has also taken an overdose of sleeping pills. He enjoys the moment to be alone with his beloved and finally to be able to touch her. But he soon notices the seriousness of the situation and calls for help.

The next day, Professor Collins is praised as a lifesaver in the newspaper and proudly goes back to work. Here his colleagues congratulate him and when he looks back into his microscope after days of his absence, he doesn't see his specimen there, but: Penny! She floats in a wedding dress in space, still inaccessible to him, into infinity.

Soundtrack

The music for the film was provided by Beatles member George Harrison . The film or the music is probably the inspiration for the Oasis song Wonderwall .

Harrison decided to set the soundtrack preferably in Indian music, and recorded a series of short compositions in January 1968 in a recording studio in Bombay. He mixed this selection with rock elements and other western music styles, which he recorded in London. Harrison built the segments almost by stopwatch, while he was watching the unfinished film, he adjusted his varied music program to it. The resulting soundtrack album Wonderwall Music was the Beatles member's first "solo" album and was released in November 1968 by Apple Records as the company's first LP. Wonderwall music was also released on CD and in Apple catalog reissues in 1992, and was reissued in 2014.

Reviews

Kino.de wrote: “Typical British product from the late sixties with the obligatory drug and dream sequences that are supposed to convey the attitude towards life of the time. Jack MacGowran ('Dance of the Vampires') mimes the professor who examines the sixties icon Jane Birkin in almost as much detail as the insects under his microscope. At that time it was only released in a few cinemas, but over the years interest in the film was primarily kept alive by the fact that the score was by Beatle George Harrison. "

filmrezension.de said about the “funky little hippie film”: “Although one cannot objectively rate 'Wonderwall' highly, it is a thoroughly amusing contemporary document and can be seen as an interesting 'missing link' in the work of those involved. Viewers who have had little contact with experimental films from the late sixties will be put off by the less stringent plot and the associative montage. If you are not interested in the era or the soundtrack, you can safely skip this film and dedicate yourself to the real classics "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wonderwall at slantmagazine.com, accessed February 25, 2019.
  2. ↑ Filmkkritik at Kino.de , accessed on February 25, 2019.
  3. ↑ Detailed film review at filmrezension.de, accessed on February 25, 2019.