Ludwig (1973)

The reign of the tormented Ludwig, king of Bavaria, from 1864 to 1886.

Director:

Luchino Visconti

Writers:

Luchino Visconti (story and screenplay), Enrico Medioli (story and screenplay)

Stars:

Helmut Berger, Romy Schneider, Trevor Howard

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 7 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Helmut Berger	...	Ludwig
Romy Schneider	...	Elisabeth of Austria
Trevor Howard	...	Richard Wagner
Silvana Mangano	...	Cosima Von Bülow
Gert Fröbe	...	Father Hoffman
Helmut Griem	...	Dürckheim
Izabella Telezynska	...	Queen Mother
Umberto Orsini	...	Count Von Holnstein
John Moulder-Brown	...	Prince Otto (as John Moulder Brown)
Sonia Petrovna	...	Sophie (as Sonia Petrova)
Folker Bohnet	...	Joseph Kainz
Heinz Moog	...	Professor Von Gudden
Adriana Asti	...	Lila Von Buliowski
Marc Porel	...	Richard Hornig
Nora Ricci	...	Countess Ida Ferenczy

Storyline

Historical evocation of Ludwig, king of Bavaria, from his crowning in 1864 until his death in 1886, as a romantic hero. Fan of Richard Wagner, betrayed by him, in love with his cousin Elisabeth of Austria, abandonned by her, tormented by his homosexuality, he will little by little slip towards madness.

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Plot Keywords:

downward spiral | king | richard wagner | madness | epic | 

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Taglines:

Why Care What the World Thinks...When You Are the World

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | History

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Italy France West Germany Monaco

Language:

English Italian German French

Release Date:

8 March 1973 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ludwig: The Mad King of Bavaria

Filming Locations:

Bavaria, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mega Film, Cinétel, Dieter Geissler Filmproduktion

Technical Specs

Runtime:

238 min 186 min (original) 144 min (original) 185 min (original) 133 min (Press Sheet)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Romy Schneider only agreed to reprise the trademark role of her youth as Empress Elisabeth of Austria if the role would avoid all the usual clichés associated with the character and she would be allowed to portray Elisabeth as the cynical and disillusioned woman Elisabeth was known to be historically, though she did concede to put famous diamond decorations in her hair for one short scene.

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Quotes

Ludwig: But it's easier to fight a duel than to write a letter.

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Alternate Versions

Complete original European version runs 236 minutes; shortened to 173 minutes for US release.

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Connections

References Sissi (1955)

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Soundtracks

Prelude
to "Lohengrin"
Written by Richard Wagner

User Reviews

An enigma

In this last part of his German trilogy, Visconti delves the most into the human psyche, and in particular it's contradictory forces within. On one hand the self-destructive urge for physical pleasure, on the other the spiritual search for the sublime. The Dionysean and the Apollonian. Body and soul.

Ludwig II, aka the "mad" king of Bavaria, is dragged to the limits by these two opposite forces. Losing focus on a vulgar reality, he surrenders to sexual perversion and yet also to a search for artistic purity, eventually leading him to madness, and finally to death. Trying in vein to find the sublime and eternal kingdom of the literary heroes he craves for, his behavior becomes more and more erratic until he is violently dethroned (a recurring theme in Visconti's work: the fall of aristocracy and the rise of bourgeois democracy).

Visconti directs this paradox with a highly elegant style, influenced by the romanticism of painters like Caspar David Friedrich and Frederic Edwin Church. The movie reaches a climax at around the third hour, when Ludwig and his protégé Joseph Kainz travel together through the endless frozen night, so that Ludwig shows Kainz his "real kingdom, the mountains under the moonlight, a world for ourselves, pure and uncontaminated". "Think about your soul, not about your body" Ludwig tells him. This a last hurrah. After Kainz's rejection, Ludwig declines further in decay and resignation.

The events depicting the conspiracy that dethrones him are grotesquely-staged and almost out of sync, emphasizing Ludwig's confusion and ill mental-state. Knowing his downfall is near, he confesses to one of the staff how he believes in the immortality of the soul and God's justice. "I've read many things about materialism", he says, "but it will never satisfy a man, cause he doesn't want to be put in the same level as beasts". That's a rare confession for Visconti.

After he is captured, the film once again alters in style, to a kind of austere chamber-cinema with a funereal feel. Near the end (and his death), Ludwig says to psychiatrist professor Gudden: "There is nothing more beautiful and fascinating than the night. They say the cult of the night, of the moon, is a maternal cult. The cult of sun, of daytime, is a masculine myth, therefore paternal. However the mystery, the greatness of night, for me lie in the infinite sublime kingdom of the heroes, which is also the kingdom of reason. Poor Dr. Gudden, you are forced to study me from dawn to dusk and from dusk to dawn. But I am an enigma, and I want to be an enigma forever, for the world and for myself".

Just like man. Sublime.