#othon

Classifying the Films of Jean-Marie Straub and Daniele Huillet by Stuart Collier

The films of Jean-Marie Straub and Daniele Huillet — it is said time and time again — are challenging, rigorous, alienating, invariably belonging to a mode of filmmaking that uses cinema as a means of accessing the Western cultural past. Jean-Luc Godard, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Derek Jarman, among many others, have similarly sought to filter ancient texts through the medium of cinema, and, in the process, to creatively resolve those heated junctures where antiquity and modernity don’t quite mesh together. Yet Straub and Huillet’s commitment to this demanding, dialectical approach to filmic storytelling was uniquely all-consuming: with very few exceptions, each of their feature films tackles an exceptionally ambitious source, be it Franz Kafka or Sophocles, and pushes the art of adaptation to new experimental heights.

Now, this is not to say that these films are inaccessible, deified works of art more fitting for the museum or the lecture hall than the home media center. I would like to cast this duo’s films in a less demanding light. For all of the textual interpolations and formal rigor of these films, they are far from confusing — rather, the subject matter of each film is approached with a directness uncommon in most narrative cinema. In fact, I would even propose that they can be classified according to genre, and that these recognizable forms of storytelling can help us to understand what makes Straub and Huillet so unique.

The Musician Biopic

THE CHRONICLE OF ANNA MAGDALENA BACH (’68) remains Straub and Huillet’s most celebrated work, precisely because it has no interest in adhering to the dictates of dramatic storytelling. This is a truly uncompromising biopic in that it recreates Johann Sebastian Bach’s actual music without adding on any bells or whistles. Bach himself is played by Dutch harpsichordist and organist Gustav Leonhardt, who facilitates over two dozen performances of the master’s pieces throughout the film, all of which are rendered with an uncanny verisimilitude in many of the original locations where Bach actually performed. As for narrative, conflict or characterization — these qualities are all cryptically embedded in the fictitious diary entries of his second wife, Anna Magdalena (played by Christiane Lang-Drewanz), which are read in intervals between performances. Where a traditional biopic might work to dramatically emphasize the contradictions between the music and the man, Straub and Huillet present the two side-by-side, in alternating blocks of screen time, beseeching the audience to thread the needle of this biographical history for themselves.

The Political Thriller

In 1664, French tragedian Pierre Corneille’s play Othon was staged at the court of King Louis XIV. This obscure drama, practically unknown today, concerns the labyrinthine bids for imperial power following the death of Emperor Nero. Straub and Huillet, for their first color film, decided to adapt this long forgotten relic of the West’s theatrical heritage, opting for the rather unusual title, EYES DO NOT WANT TO CLOSE AT ALL TIMES… (’70). Shot on location on the Palatine Hill of Rome, with all actors in period dress, the film is notable for one striking and deliberate inconsistency: Straub and Huillet make no effort to camouflage Rome as it exists today, replete with automotive traffic in the background and the din of urban industry riddling the soundtrack. As a panoply of characters engages in consultation and conspiracy regarding the fate of Rome — not all of it entirely comprehensible — the filmmakers continually emphasize that the Rome under discussion is a living historical paradox. This is not a political thriller in the vein of Alan J. Pakula — there is little action or suspense, for starters — but Straub and Huillet are no less interested in the nested intricacies of political power.

The Biblical Epic

awww, como olvidar las grandes odiseas para conseguir la casta de los metabarones en el bibliometro en el order deseado y despues descubrir que les faltaba uno...s cuantos..... y al final los pillé en el sucedáneo para los cuicos del mall vespucio...

lo de cuico lo digo por lo que cobraban esos weones, por eso se les murio la wea al año ...

En 1979 la poste émet un ensemble de 4 timbres intitulés : Souliotes. Imprimé à plusieurs millions d’exemplaires (exception faite de la valeur de 20 drachmes à 696 331 unités) ces timbres commémores la mémoire les combats des Souliotes contre les Ottomans. C’est un héritage culturel et identitaire très fort, les Souliotes commence la lutte anti-ottomane dès 1685 (oui, ce n’est pas une faute de…