X
- 2007
- Not Rated
- Zeitgeist Films
- 2 h 49 m
- 2007
- Not Rated
- Zeitgeist Films
- 2 h 49 m
Summary This documentary about an ascetic monastery is one of the most mesmerizing and poetic chronicles of spirituality ever created. More meditation than documentary, it's a rare, transformative theatrical experience for all. (Zeitgeist Films)
Directed By: Philip Gröning
Written By: Philip Gröning
- 2007
- Not Rated
- Zeitgeist Films
- 2 h 49 m
- 2007
- Not Rated
- Zeitgeist Films
- 2 h 49 m
Into Great Silence
78
Summary This documentary about an ascetic monastery is one of the most mesmerizing and poetic chronicles of spirituality ever created. More meditation than documentary, it's a rare, transformative theatrical experience for all. (Zeitgeist Films)
Directed By: Philip Gröning
Written By: Philip Gröning
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 20 Critic Reviews
78
95% Positive
19 Reviews
19 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
5% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 20 Critic Reviews
78
95% Positive
19 Reviews
19 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
5% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
The silence captured in this documentary -- a meditative look at life in the Carthusian monastery of the Grande Chartreuse in the French Alps -- may be the most eloquent you'll ever hear.
I hesitate, given the early date and the project's modesty, to call Into Great Silence one of the best films of the year. I prefer to think of it as the antidote to all of the others.
A film of great spiritual intensity and haunting minimalism that enlarges your concepts of movies and of life. Like the monks of the Carthusian order, it distills something intoxicating through a style that's pure and rigorous.
A transcendent, transporting experience, a trance movie that casts a major league spell by going deeply into a monastic world that lives largely without words.
The overwhelming silence is broken mainly by chanting and the ringing of the monastery bells. Call it life in the slow, slow, slow lane.
With a painterly eye and a deep appreciation for the hermetic world set apart from, rather than at odds with, modern life, helmer Philip Groening takes the viewer into their cloistered world.
Try as I might, I could not love it, because as a piece of cinema, Into Great Silence would try the patience of a saint.
Production Company
ARTE,
Bavaria Film,
Bavaria-Filmkunst Verleih,
Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR),
Cine Plus Filmproduktion,
Cine Plus,
Philip-Gröning-Filmproduktion,
Televisione Svizzera Italiana (TSI),
Ventura Film,
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF)
Release Date Feb 28, 2007
Duration 2 h 49 m
Rating Not Rated
Genres
Tagline A unique, transcendent and transporting cinematic event
Awards
Cinema Eye Honors Awards, US
• 6 Nominations
Sundance Film Festival
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
German Film Critics Association Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
