Lasisydän / Hjärta av glas. DE 1976. PC: Werner Herzog Filmproduktion (München). P+D: Werner Herzog. SC: Herbert Achternbusch – based on his text (later published as a part of the novel Die Stunde des Todes). DP: Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein - 1,1:66 - Eastmancolor. AD: Henning von Gierke, Cornelius Siegel. M: Popol Vuh, Studio der Frühen Musik. ED: Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus, Angelika Dreis. C: Josef Bierbichler (Hias, shepherd), Stefan Guttler (owner of the glassworks), Clemens Scheitz (Adalbert, servant), Volker Prechtel (Wudy), Sepp Müller (Ascherl), Sonja Skiba (Ludmilla), Brunhilde Klöckner (Paulin), Wolf Albrecht (Sam), Thomas Binkley (lute player), Sterling Jones, Richard Levitt (musicians), Andrea von Ramm (singer), Janos Fischer (Ägide), Wilhelm Friedrich (factory owner's father), Edith Gratz (wife of the innkeeper), Werner Lederle (innkeeper), Alois Hruschka (Gigl, glass blower). Telecasts in Finland: 1.4.2007, 1.7.2009 YLE Teema. 94 min. A SFI Filmarkivet print with Swedish subtitles by [Gun Muresso], screened with e-subtitles in Finnish by Lena Talvio, viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki (Cinéma Deleuze), 26 Feb 2013.
The name of the film refers to Stefan Guttler's remark to Hias in prison: "Du hast ein Herz aus Glas" - "your heart is made of glass".
Synopsis from Filmportal: "A glassworks in the Bavarian forest in the 19th century. The foreman Mühlbeck dies, and with him the secret formula for ruby glass. Now, the psychic shepherd Hias is supposed to solve the riddle but instead has visions of catastrophes that get bleaker by the day. The factory owner, too, tries to find out the formula for ruby glass and believes that human blood is an indispensable ingredient. He then stabs his maid Ludmilla and sets the glassworks on fire. The other villagers and, finally, Hias himself also go insane."
"Werner Herzog shot this mystic Heimatfilm almost exclusively with hypnotized actors." (Filmportal)
Herzog meets Achternbusch.
The two wild poets of Bavaria work together very well.
Achternbusch provides the words, including the incredible prophesies of the visionary shepherd.
Herzog provides the imagery, starting with the Alps, above the clouds, and ending in the ocean where the hermit islanders embark on a quest for the end of the world to see with their own eyes whether there is truly an abyss there. These images are in the dimension of the sublime in the classical sense of the world. "One can see it as a token of hope that the birds followed them to the high seas".
I like the words, I like the music (Popol Vuh and Studio der frühen Musik), and I like the images.
Hypnotizing actors sounds intriguing but does not work at all. It is impossible to relate to any of the characters except to the prophetic shepherd.
The print is good and gives an authentic-seeming impression of the colour world.
The name of the film refers to Stefan Guttler's remark to Hias in prison: "Du hast ein Herz aus Glas" - "your heart is made of glass".
Synopsis from Filmportal: "A glassworks in the Bavarian forest in the 19th century. The foreman Mühlbeck dies, and with him the secret formula for ruby glass. Now, the psychic shepherd Hias is supposed to solve the riddle but instead has visions of catastrophes that get bleaker by the day. The factory owner, too, tries to find out the formula for ruby glass and believes that human blood is an indispensable ingredient. He then stabs his maid Ludmilla and sets the glassworks on fire. The other villagers and, finally, Hias himself also go insane."
"Werner Herzog shot this mystic Heimatfilm almost exclusively with hypnotized actors." (Filmportal)
Herzog meets Achternbusch.
The two wild poets of Bavaria work together very well.
Achternbusch provides the words, including the incredible prophesies of the visionary shepherd.
Herzog provides the imagery, starting with the Alps, above the clouds, and ending in the ocean where the hermit islanders embark on a quest for the end of the world to see with their own eyes whether there is truly an abyss there. These images are in the dimension of the sublime in the classical sense of the world. "One can see it as a token of hope that the birds followed them to the high seas".
I like the words, I like the music (Popol Vuh and Studio der frühen Musik), and I like the images.
Hypnotizing actors sounds intriguing but does not work at all. It is impossible to relate to any of the characters except to the prophetic shepherd.
The print is good and gives an authentic-seeming impression of the colour world.
