It’ll be perfectly timed for miserable weather season of this upcoming winter, Nietzsche fans will be able to take the plunge into Bela Tarr’s bleak treatment, and worth mentioning that this is historically a hypothetical one, into the celeb philosopher’s ultimate demise. After weather-related production problems pushed the film past a 2010 Cannes due date, The Turin Horse, the winner of the Jury Grand Prix Silver Bear in Berlin has found a home with The Cinema Guild folks.
Gist: On January 3, 1889 in Turin, Italy, Friedrich Nietzsche steps out of the doorway of number six, Via Carlo Albert. Not far from him, the driver of a hansom cab is having trouble with a stubborn horse. Despite all his urging, the horse refuses to move, whereupon the driver loses his patience and takes his whip to it. Nietzsche comes up to the throng and puts an end to the brutal scene, throwing his arms around the horse’s neck, sobbing. His landlord takes him home, where he lies motionless and silent for two days on a divan until he mutters the obligatory last words, and lives for another ten years, silent and demented, cared for by his mother and sisters. Somewhere in the countryside, the driver of the hansom cab lives with his daughter and the horse. Outside, a windstorm rages.
Worth Noting: The filmmaker had problems with the film’s release in his own backyard: it was originally set for a March release but after a spat with the Hungarian government, the film was shelved….for how long, we don’t know.
Do We Care?: If you count “Sátántangó” and “Werckmeister Harmonies” (2000) among your favorites, then you’re in luck — as the consensus from the trades in Berlin was this strictly for fans of the filmmaker.
