Werckmeister Harmonies

Werckmeister Harmonies

  • Director: Béla Tarr
  • Writer: László Krasznahorkai,Béla Tarr,Péter Dobai
  • Countries of origin: Hungary, Italy, Germany, France
  • Language: Hungarian, Slovak
  • Release date: February 1, 2001
  • Sound mix: Stereo
  • Aspect ratio: 1.66 : 1
  • Also known as: Гармонії Веркмейстера
  • "Werckmeister harmóniák" is a feature film directed by Béla Tarr and Ágnes Hranitzky, starring Lars Rudolph, Hanna Schygulla , and Peter Fitz. It was released in Belgium on July 12, 2000   .
    The film tells the story of what happened after a circus with the body of a whale and a mysterious prince came up in a small Hungarian town   .

    Details

    • Release date February 1, 2001
    • Filming locations Baja, Hungary
    • Production companies 13 Productions, ARTE, Fondazione Montecinemaverita

    Box office

    Budget

    FRF 10,000,000 (estimated)

    Gross US & Canada

    $25,461

    Opening weekend US & Canada

    $4,852

    Gross worldwide

    $25,461

    Movie reviews

     ( 54 ) Add reviews

    • By Elmore 2022-03-27 09:01:18

      Deceptiveness of the regime

      Just like "Underground", the male protagonist is deceived by different regimes collectively. He is full of curiosity and affection for the mystery of whales. "Whales" are symbols of the country. They are innocent, but they are constantly being used. It has been scarred for thousands of years. In the long shot of the big truck with the whales coming to town, the truck is very large in the frame, a metaphor for the arrival of danger. When the musician's ex-wife returns to town, the film uses a...

    • By Deonte 2022-03-27 09:01:18

      A critical allegory of the turbulent history of Hungary

      #Whale Circus# Bella Tarr's classic work, I have seen his "Horse of Turin" before, which is more original and more shocking. The lonely father and daughter and an old horse, the extreme long shot, is like an allegory. The scene of this film is put in a small town, and there are more life characters. But the plot remains obscure. The turbulent background of Hungary can be roughly seen, the gentlemen trying to quit politics, the politicians with ulterior motives, the naive youth who are...

    • By Donnell 2022-03-27 09:01:18

      whale fall

      People say: I see deer when the forest is deep, whales when the sea is blue, and you when I wake up from a dream. But the reality: fog rises when the forest is deep, waves surge when the sea blue, and night continues when the dream wakes up. No deer, no whale, no you. But in the end: the deer come through the fog, and the whales swarm with the waves. How do you know I'm not here if you don't look back. But from my point of view: a deer disappears in the deep forest in shock when it sees a...

    • By Rylan 2022-03-26 09:01:12

      'Take care.' 'Take care.'

      'He likes it when things fall apart.'
      'they built things. they'll build. all they build is delusions. they thought. they think. all they think is ridiculous. people are afraid. when they're afraid, they know nothing.'
      'But Mr. Hagelmayer. It's still not over.'
      János Valuska: You are the sun. The sun doesn't move, this is what it does. You are the Earth. The Earth is here for a start, and then the Earth moves around the sun. And now, we'll have an explanation that simple folks like...

    • By Cecil 2022-03-26 09:01:12

      Whale's Philosophy

      When the tumult and the tumult were quiet, so said the prince, what they have built, and will build, what they have done, and what they will do, are deceit and lies; what they are thinking, and what they will think, is Ridiculous; they think so because they are afraid, and the people who are afraid know nothing. He said he liked it, liked that everything was torn apart, that it was construction in ruins, that a single emotion of destruction was immutable and fatal. We can't find the real...

    User comments

      ( 93 ) Add comments

    • By Josephine 2023-08-21 10:06:21

      Maybe Beratar felt that politics couldn't answer most questions, so he left a lot of...

    • By Deon 2023-08-19 18:19:50

      Filmmaker Retreat Notes. The empty gaze of a whale in the square, the silhouette of a prince in a shipping container, the naked old man in the hospital. Unknown Eastern European History + Long Shots + Soundtrack Víg Mihály...

    • By Sarai 2023-07-16 04:19:06

      Awesome camera movements and...

    • By Tessie 2022-12-30 12:15:52

      It is impossible for someone unfamiliar with Hungarian and Eastern European history to understand. I can only look at the "39 long...

    • By Oliver 2022-10-29 12:43:35

      life-threatening long...

    Evaluation action

    The whales in "Werckmeister harmóniák" are actually beliefs about life. The functional items that director Béla Tarr gives to animals are ultimately metaphors, thinking about people through animals and thinking about the relationship between people. In the film, the outlines of Janos and the musicians parting ways are placed in the depth of HTC by the director, and the single shot time is extended indefinitely until there is only one...
    more about Werckmeister Harmonies Evaluation action

    Movie quotes

    • János Valuska: You are the sun. The sun doesn't move, this is what it does. You are the Earth. The Earth is here for a start, and then the Earth moves around the sun. And now, we'll have an explanation that simple folks like us can also understand, about immortality. All I ask is that you step with me into the boundlessness, where constancy, quietude and peace, infinite emptiness reign. And just imagine, in this infinite sonorous silence, everywhere is an impenetrable darkness. Here, we only experience general motion, and at first, we don't notice the events that we are witnessing. The brilliant light of the sun always sheds its heat and light on that side of the Earth which is just then turned towards it. And we stand here in it's brilliance. This is the moon. The moon revolves around the Earth. What is happening? We suddenly see that the disc of the moon, the disc of the moon, on the Sun's flaming sphere, makes an indentation, and this indentation, the dark shadow, grows bigger... and bigger. And as it covers more and more, slowly only a narrow crescent of the sun remains, a dazzling crescent. And at the next moment, the next moment - say that it's around one in the afternoon - a most dramatic turn of event occurs. At that moment the air suddenly turns cold. Can you feel it? The sky darkens, then goes all dark. The dogs howl, rabbits hunch down, the deer run in panic, run, stampede in fright. And in this awful, incomprehensible dusk, even the birds... the birds too are confused and go to roost. And then... Complete Silence. Everything that lives is still. Are the hills going to march off? Will heaven fall upon us? Will the Earth open under us? We don't know. We don't know, for a total eclipse has come upon us... But... but no need to fear. It's not over. For across the sun's glowing sphere, slowly, the Moon swims away. And the sun once again bursts forth, and to the Earth slowly there comes again light, and warmth again floods the Earth. Deep emotion pierces everyone. They have escaped the weight of darkness

      Mr. Hagelmayer: That's enough! Out of here, you tubs of beer!

      János Valuska: But Mr. Hagelmayer. It's still not over.

    • György Eszter: I have to make it clear that not even for a moment is there doubt that it is not a technical but a philosophical question. So that the tonal system in question, through researches, has led us inevitably to a test of faith, in which we ask: on what do we base our belief that this harmony, the core of every masterpiece, referring to its own irrevocability, actually exists or not. From this it follows that we should speak of, not research into music, but a unique realization of non-music which for centuries has been covered up and a dreadful scandal which we should disclose. Hence the shameful situation that all the intervals in the masterpieces of many centuries are false. Which means that music and its harmony and echo, its unsurpassable enchantment is entirely based on a false foundation. Yes, we have to speak of an indisputable deception, even if those who are less sure, a little moderate, babble on about compromise. But what kind of compromise, when for the majority pure musical tonality is simply illusion, and truly pure musical intervals do not exist? Here we have to acknowledge the fact that there were ages more fortunate than ours, those of Pythagoras and Aristoxenes, when our forefathers were satisfied with the fact that their purely tuned instruments were played only in some tones, because they were not troubled by doubts, for they knew that heavenly harmonies were the province of the gods. Later, all this was not enough, unhinged arrogance wished to take possession of all the harmonies of the gods. And it was done in its own way, technicians were charged with the solution, a Praetorius, a Salinas, and finally an Andreas Werckmeister, who resolved the difficulty by dividing the octave of the harmony of the gods, the twelve half-tones, into twelve equal parts. Of two semi-tones he falsified one, instead of ten black keys, five were used and that sealed the position. We have to turn our backs on this development of tuning instruments, the so-called constant-tempered, and its sad history and bring back the naturally tuned instrument. Carefully, we have to correct Werckmeister's mistakes. We have to concern ourselves with these seven notes of the scale, but not as of the octave, but seven distinct and independent qualities like seven fraternal stars in the heavens. What we have to do then, if we are aware, is that this natural tuning has its limits and it is a somewhat worrisome limit that definitely excludes the use of certain higher signatures.