X
  • 2008
  • G
  • Shadow Distribution
  • 1 h 42 m
  • 2008
  • G
  • Shadow Distribution
  • 1 h 42 m
The Silence Before Bach

Summary The Silence Before Bach is a mélange of genres including narrative vignettes and documentary sequences on the theme of the transformational power of great music. At one moment his camera records a subway car packed with passionate cello-playing musicians; at another he is following a guide who gives tours of Leipzig dressed in full Bach ...

Directed By: Pere Portabella

Written By: Xavier Albertí, Carles Santos, Pere Portabella

  • 2008
  • G
  • Shadow Distribution
  • 1 h 42 m
  • 2008
  • G
  • Shadow Distribution
  • 1 h 42 m

The Silence Before Bach

Metascore Generally Favorable Based on 5 Critic Reviews
70
User Score Available after 4 ratings
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Summary The Silence Before Bach is a mélange of genres including narrative vignettes and documentary sequences on the theme of the transformational power of great music. At one moment his camera records a subway car packed with passionate cello-playing musicians; at another he is following a guide who gives tours of Leipzig dressed in full Bach ...

Directed By: Pere Portabella

Written By: Xavier Albertí, Carles Santos, Pere Portabella

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 5 Critic Reviews
70
100% Positive
5 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 5 Critic Reviews
70
100% Positive
5 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
75
Portabella has no interest in conventional biography -- it's hard not to suspect that he included the tale of Felix Mendelsson (Daniel Ligorio) discovering the score for the "St. Matthew Passion" wrapping a meat delivery precisely BECAUSE it's probably apocryphal.
By Maitland McDonagh FULL REVIEW
75
Unless you are offended by a little female nudity, The Silence Before Bach will shock you not. But it will provide gorgeous lensing and art direction and some of the world's most beautiful music.
By V.A. Musetto FULL REVIEW
70
The film demands engagement and a kind of surrender, a willingness to enter into a work shaped by correlation, metaphor and metonymy, by beautiful images and fragments of ideas, a work that locates the music in the twitching of a dog’s ears, in the curve of a woman’s belly, a child’s song and an adult’s reverie.
By Manohla Dargis FULL REVIEW
70
Not only very civilized--this cool, deliberate film suggests that Bach's music is the quintessence of European civilization.
By J. Hoberman FULL REVIEW
70
Arguably stronger conceptually than visually, surreal mix of the unexpected and the banal is definitely not to everybody's taste. But the music is inarguably sublime.
By Ronnie Scheib FULL REVIEW

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Details

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Production Company Films 59
Release Date Jan 30, 2008
Duration 1 h 42 m
Rating G
Genres
Website http://www.medulafilms.com/lesilenceavantbach/
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Awards

Gijón International Film Festival
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
Barcelona Film Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Sant Jordi Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination

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