Parsifal (1982 Hans Jürgen Syberberg)

Hans Jürgen Syberberg: Parsifal (DE/FR 1982.

DE/FR 1982. 

    PC: TMS Film GmbH / Bayerischer Rundfunk / Gaumont. 

    D+SC: Hans Jürgen Syberberg - based on the Bühnenweihfestspiel by Richard Wagner (1882) - based on the epic poems by Wolfram von Eschenbach and Chrétien de Troyes. DP: Igor Luther. PD: Werner Achmann. Sculptures: Rudolf Vincent Rotter. Puppets: Atelier Stummer & Barbara Buchwald. Paintings: Johann Ploner. Miniatures: Flo Nordhoff. Costumes: Veronica Dorn, Hella Wolter, Moidele Bickel. M performed by the Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Prague Philharmonic Choir, conducted by Armin Jordan. M recording: Erato.
    Actors / singers:
AMFORTAS: Armin Jordan / Wolfgang Schöne
TITUREL: Martin Sperr / Hans Tschammer
GURNEMANZ: Robert Lloyd
PARSIFAL: David Luther (child), Michael Kutter, Karen Krick / Rainer Goldberg
KLINGSOR: Aage Haugland
KUNDRY: Edith Clever / Yvonne Minton
    255 min (I act ca 110 min, intermission, II-III acts ca 145 min). 

    Opera film / film opera. A Hans Jürgen Syberberg print, e-subtitles in Finnish by Pekka Asikainen, operated by Pirjo Brech. 

    Viewed at Orion, Helsinki, 3 April 2005. 

SYBERBERG: "My aim is the continuation of Wagner with other means: to make audible what has never been seen and visible what has never been heard. Images inspired by music can contribute to the resonating spirit of this world which stems from the most beautiful invention available to the inner eye. It is in the wistful look of love, in the redemptive serenity which springs from the heart-blood of longing, which Richard Wagner always talked about". SYBERBERG (BFI / EDINBURGH 1992): Parsifal, the allegorical bearer of redemption, is divided into man and woman. 

    MARTTI-TAPIO KUUSKOSKI: Wagner's philosophical testament is today more valid than ever. It prophesies the "end of ideology". The play (more than an opera: a new genre of drama) begins in the ruins of Bayreuth after WWII. Parsifal enters Klingsor's magic garden and passes the panorama of abused utopias (images from Delacroix, Leonardo, Goya). By Klingsor's throne are littered the heads of his victims: Marx, Nietzsche, Aischylus, Wagner, Ludwig II. Puppet theatre is one of the hallmarks of Syberberg's art. The stage is a giant head of Wagner where even the Grail is hidden. The music of the images is based on the faces and the looks, from Amfortas's look of pain to Kundry's noble and redemptive look of love directed to the viewer. This film started the long Edith Clever period in Syberberg's cinema.
    AA: MY OWN COMMENTS IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE FILM: Certainly one of the most original and profoundly felt operas in the medium of the cinema. More than an adaptation, this is Wagnerian thinking, feeling and creation.