Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach 1968

[bigshot]

I screened this last night. The blu-ray is fantastic, with good sound and beautiful B&W photography. The film is wonderful, because it presents Bach's music in perfect period settings. The musicians are the absolute best HIP (Historically Informed Performance) movement. The costumes are completely accurate. The locations are places Bach actually lived and worked in. And the sound is recorded in a human perspective, so you can hear the ambience of these amazing locations. The music is performed in long pretty much static shots so you can really get a feeling for the performance and atmosphere. It's really quite amazing.

My only quibble with the film is the narration by Bach's wife... It's read from a diary and letters, and the actress reads it SO FAST switching from English to German pronunciation in a very convoluted and old style dialect. There's very little way to follow it without subtitles, and even with them, it's still to fast to follow. Thankfully the Chronicle part is a very small part of the film, acting mostly as the bridging bit between musical sequences.

Definitely worth getting if you are interested in classical music.

[witchmania]

Yeah, it's a fantastic film and a terrific release. Grasshopper are doing a great job with these Straub-Huillet editions - their Moses & Aaron disc is pretty essential too, not least due to the inclusion of Not Reconciled as a bonus feature. Really hope we don't have to wait too long for the next one.

[malakaheso]

Originally Posted by bigshot

only quibble with the film is the narration by Bach's wife... It's read from a diary and letters, and the actress reads it SO FAST switching from English to German pronunciation in a very convoluted and old style dialect. There's very little way to follow it without subtitles, and even with them, it's still to fast to follow. Thankfully the Chronicle part is a very small part of the film, acting mostly as the bridging bit between musical sequences..

The narration is far better in German and really helps reinforce the feeling of being 'transported' to a bygone era.

The English narration is often difficult to hear. I had to turn on the subtitles too.

I wish Grasshopper would release a limited edition blu-ray boxset of all the Straub-Huillet's they currently have the rights to.

Unfortunately they don't seem to own The Death of Empedocles, Class Relations or Antigone.

[bigshot]

I wonder if they didn't add words to the English version. It's spoken so fast, it's like the disclaimers at the end of a car dealership radio ad.

[malakaheso]

^^Yes, it lacks rhythm. Have you seen the version with German narration?