Die Stille vor Bach (2007)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Pere Portabella

Writers:

Xavier Albertí (writer)
Pere Portabella (writer)

Release Date:

21 December 2007 (Spain)

Genre:

Musical

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Organ Playing | Falling Piano | Female Full Frontal Nudity | Subway | Classical Music

Awards:

2 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Christian Atanasiu	...	Mayordomo
Féodor Atkine	...	Vendedor de pianos
George-Christoph Biller	...	Himself
Christian Brembeck	...	J. S. Bach
Àlex Brendemühl	...	Camioner
Georgina Cardona	...	Violonchelista
Lucien Dekoster	...	Afinador de pianos
Beatriz Ferrer-Salat	...	Amazona
Gertrud Kossler	...	Clienta
Bert Kripstädt	...	Camarero
Lina Lambert	...	Madre de Mendelssohn
Daniel Ligorio	...	F. Mendelssohn
Jordi Llordella	...	Amigo de Mendelssohn
Ferran Ruiz	...	Hijo de Bach
Thomas Sauerteig	...	Amigo de la violonchelista
Franz Schuchart	...	Guía turístico
Antonio Serrano	...	Acompañante del camionero
Fanny Silvestre	...	Anna Magdalena Bach
Mariona Solanas	...	Hija de Bach
Àlvar Triay	...	Camionero del Bar
Daniela Wick	...	Descendiente de Bach
Jens Wittwer	...	Hijo mayor de Bach
Johannes Zametzer	...	Carnicero

Also Known As:

El silenci abans de Bach (Spain: Catalan title)
El silencio antes de Bach (Spain: Castilian title)
The Silence Before Bach (USA) (new title)

Runtime:

Spain:102 min

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish | German | Catalan

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

France:U

Filming Locations:

Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain

Company:

Films 59

A film on pure beauty

A truly cinematographic film about beauty in its purest forms: Bach's music, silence, human conversation, the human body, music instruments... Everything is shown with good taste, as if everything could represent beauty itself, even mechanical devices, old river boats or trucks painted with religious icons.

The movie itself is conceived as a music work: tensions are created and released (or not) or reformulated, there are visual leit motivs and textual leit motivs (for instance, the same words spoken by two different characters, centuries apart, in different scenes). There are reflections on music, on its formal aspect, on its almost divine reach.

A film about music through music, about beauty through beauty, self-referential and self- conscious. Humble, austere, simple and witty at the same time, like Bach's variations or Vermeer's paintings: cinematographic poetry can not get much better than that.

Too bad if it is not released on DVD: the producers and director should think better. Some people don't go to cinema just because they are ill or unluckily confined: they, too, have the right to enjoy a work of art. Isn't the director a left-wing intellectual?