Werckmeister Harmonies12A

Directed by Béla Tarr | Hungary | 2000 | 2h 25m | Hungarian w/ English subtitles | Starring Lars Rudolph, Peter Fitz, Hanna Schygulla, János Derzsi, Djoko Rosic

In a small Hungarian town, the harsh winter is disrupted by the arrival of a mysterious circus, featuring an enormous stuffed whale and a tantalising attraction known as The Prince. As the festivities stir the locals into a frenzy, a solitary newspaper delivery man witnesses the ensuing chaos. Adapted from László Krasznahorkai’s novel The Melancholy of Resistance, filmmaker Béla Tarr crafts an apocalyptically transcendent portrait of disorder and governmental control, conveyed through his signature long tracking shots.

Béla Tarr Retrospective

Reviews

‘An eerie monochrome vision of power, group hysteria, cosmological breakdown and the end of the world…Werckmeister Harmonies may be Tarr’s masterpiece’ 
★★★★★
Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

‘Werckmeister Harmonies exerts a peculiarly powerful spell.’
★★★★
Tom Dawson, BBC

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We showed Werckmeister Harmonies between August 11, 2024 and August 13, 2024.

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