Der Rosenkönig (1986)

Director:

Werner Schroeter

Writers:

Magdalena Montezuma, Edgar Allan Poe (poem),

Stars:

Magdalena Montezuma, Mostefa Djadjam, Antonio Orlando

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview:
Magdalena Montezuma	...	Anna, The Mother
Mostefa Djadjam	...	Albert
Antonio Orlando	...	Fernando, The Friend
Karina Fallenstein	...	The Woman
Sintra	...	Kinder
Montijo	...	Kinder

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

gay interest | art | male frontal nudity | farm | male nudity | 

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Genres:

Drama | Musical

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Details

Country:

West Germany Portugal France Netherlands

Language:

Arabic German French English Italian Spanish Portuguese

Release Date:

26 March 1986 (Portugal)

Also Known As:

Le roi des roses

Filming Locations:

Portugal

Company Credits

Production Co:

Werner Schroeter Filmproduktion, Juliane Lorenz Filmproduktion, Futra Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The director forbad the use of any subtitles.

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Connections

Featured in Mondo Lux - Die Bilderwelten des Werner Schroeter (2011)

User Reviews

Pretty but Pretentious

The IMDb classifies the genre of the film as Drama/Musical, but "Pretentious Nonsense" is probably a more accurate characterization, even if this is a little unkind. The film is certainly pretty to look at; each scene is (visually) as carefully composed as an oil painting, and the slow pace combines these images to an overall impression that is not unlike visiting an art gallery, i.e. moving from picture to picture, pondering over each for a while.

The classical music accompanies this well and enhances that emotion, and the characters' movement have a certain balletic quality that fits to the mood.

However, that alone does not make a movie. There is barely a story extractable from the proceedings, and the personal relationships between the characters do not ring true, not physically, not emotionally; they are just weird. Ballet has similar difficulties when it tries to tell its audience a story, but there is little justification for maintaining this difficulty at the cinema, just for the heck of it.

The film is certainly watchable, like a piece of art, and is in this sense a vast improvement over Schroeter's dreadful "Das Liebeskonzil", but it does not engage the audience. In other words: for toffee-nosed elitists only.