Werckmeister Harmonies is perplexing, to say the least. No one would expect that a circus would somehow disrupt a village in the middle of nowhere, all because a prince in its act is missing, and the whale, of all things, isn’t enough to make up for it. It’s a bizarre premise based on the novel The Melancholy of Resistance by László Krasznahorkai. However, co-directors Béla Tarr and Ágnes Hranitzky transform this strange story into a mesmerizing drama. The weird plot points are captured through black-and-white long takes, with each shot lingering in dread with what’s to come to town. Werckmeister Harmonies will be different things to different viewers, but there’s no denying the curious allure the shots have in capturing this uncanny allegory.
"Tarr's true achievement is to attain the condition of silence, and of bottomless, awesomely inscrutable nightmare."
— Jonathan Romney
"Six years after the 7-1/2-hour Satan's Tango, Magyar maverick Bela Tarr makes a stunning feature return with "Werckmeister Harmonies," another hypnotic meditation on popular demagogy and mental manipulation that's a snap at 145 minutes."
— Derek Elley
A naive young man witnesses an escalation of violence in his small hometown following the arrival of a mysterious circus attraction.
A mysterious circus with a whale and a Prince visits a countryside village during the winter, unexpectedly inciting the sleepy town into chaotic rebellion.
The shots are so beautiful, but the atmosphere feels so unsettling.
It's a strange, strange film.
Cannes
1 nomination
Berlin
1 nomination
