Werckmeister Harmóniák

Our program featuring requests from the neighborhood continues with WERCKMEISTER HARMÓNIÁK (Werckmeister Harmonies, Béla Tarr, Hungary/G/F 1998–2000), which is presented as a 35mm print in accordance with the director’s wishes. Tarr, who passed away in January of this year, had close ties to the Arsenal: Many of his films were screened in the Berlinale Forum, and his films were also frequently featured in our program. Adapted from a novel by László Krasznahorkai, WERCKMEISTER HARMÓNIÁK is set in winter in a provincial Hungarian town. An alien world bursts in violently and threatens to overturn the social order. A traveling circus arouses the interest of the residents, who line up by the hundreds to see the main attraction, a stuffed whale. Their wait culminates in an inexplicable uprising. A somber mood hangs over Tarr’s expressive black-and-white film, a vision of doom depicting the struggle between barbarism and civilization with images of great intensity. (Annette Lingg)