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Werckmeister Harmonies
Anthology Film Archives

Werckmeister Harmonies reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 92 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
7.1 out of 10
based on 8 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 38 votes
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MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Lars Rudolph, Peter Fitz, Hanna Schygulla, János Derzsi, and Djoko Rosic

Based on László Krasznahorkai's novel "The Melancholy of Resistance," this is an uncanny fable about powerlessness and tyranny. Set in a small Hungarian village at a moment of great crisis, a mysterious circus comes to town with a giant whale and news of an appearance by a Prince known for his strange powers. Soon the locals' emotions are stirred to a fever pitch of anticipation. (Anthology Film Archives)


GENRE(S): Drama  
WRITTEN BY: Béla Tarr
László Krasznahorkai (novel The Melancholy of Resistance)
Péter Dobai, Gyuri Dósa Kiss, and György Fehér (additional dialogue)
 
DIRECTED BY: Béla Tarr
Ágnes Hranitzky
 
RELEASE DATE: DVD: February 28, 2006 
Theatrical: October 10, 2001 
RUNNING TIME: 145 minutes, B/W 
ORIGIN: Germany / France / Hungary 
LANGUAGE(S): German and Hungarian (with English subtitles) 

Original Hungarian title "Werckmeister harmóniák"

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
This is as challenging as movies come, alluding to everything from philosopher Thomas Hobbes to the history of Western music.
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100
San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann
An indelible statement on loneliness and spiritual thirst.
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100
New York Post V.A. Musetto
While Tarr's newest epic, Werckmeister Harmonies, isn't intended for the shopping-mall crowd, it is more viewer-friendly and will please adventurous moviegoers.
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90
New Times (L.A.) Andy Klein
The pacing is slow, but the film is entrancing and earns a permanent place in the viewer's mind.
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90
The New York Times Lawrence Van Gelder
Mysterious, poetic and allusive, The Werckmeister Harmonies beckons filmgoers who complain of the vapidity of Hollywood movie making and yearn for a film to ponder and debate.
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90
Variety Derek Elley
A stunning feature -- another hypnotic meditation on popular demagogy and mental manipulation.
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80
Village Voice J. Hoberman
A work of bravura filmmaking.
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80
TV Guide Ken Fox
The film could easily be reduced to a parable of post-Communist Eastern Europe, but the allegory digs deeper into the very order of things, exemplified by 17th-century musicologist Andreas Werckmeister's arbitrary imposition of a "tempered" tonal system over naturally occurring tunings.
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 7.1 (out of 10) based on 38 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

david g gave it a10:
If this is not among the top 10% of the thousands of movies that have been released in the world in the last hundred years, there must be a huge disconnect between popularity and quality: a problem with the idea of voting for the good itself.

nick p gave it a10:
Mysterious, dark and beautiful. I feel like I still don't fully understand it after watching it 3 times but still amazing.

Reza T gave it a10:
Abbas Kiarostami`s career died a couple of years ago when he started using digital Cameras. I was depressed for a couple of years as I felt true artistic cinema has died. Thanks to Béla Tarr I realized I was wrong.

Robert H. gave it a5:
Tedious beyond belief. the interest comes in watching someone struggle unsuccessfully to manufacture art. the kind of allegory on display here because there is so little context just comes off as silly. the kind of film I love to hate and for that reason worth watching.

Alex D gave it a9:
Reading user comments is hilarious. I love it when someone like Brad C. below stumbles unwittingly into a challenging experiment like this one, it flies over his head, and he ends up raging against his own befuddlement. Hey Brad: poorly filmed? Really? I know you were bored, but those long takes are objectively, undeniably masterful in execution. And pointless? I'd say you just didn't get any of its many, complicated "points." In any case, a completely mesmerizing experience, for those hip to Bella Tarr's out-there wavelength.

Dan B. gave it a2:
A huge disappointment. I'm all for very long takes and little plot--the films of Tsai Ming-Liang, for example, are mesmerizing to me--but I found this movie a chore to sit through.

Bruce H. gave it a3:
I really wanted to love this movie. I yearned to discover more than artistic photography and moody lighting, but that was all there was. I am very educated and I always seem to understand symbolism in film. Here, if there was symbolism--and dear god I hope that's what that was-- I didn't get it. I kept waiting for the moment of profundity, of closure, of understanding. It never came. If you like surreal, cryptic, bizarre films, then this is for you. Otherwise, ignore the high rating and save your time.

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