Directed by Béla Tarr • 2000 • Hungary
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Perhaps the finest expression of Béla Tarr’s unique cinematic philosophy, Werckmeister Harmonies is a mysterious and gripping parable of social collapse. Adapted from his own novel The Melancholy of Resistance by frequent collaborator László Krasznahorkai, the film follows sensitive, kind-hearted newspaper boy János (Lars Rudolph) as he attempts in vain to make sense of the crumbling world around him. A strange circus has rolled into his small town, bringing with it an enormous stuffed whale and a reclusive, demagogic figure known as the Prince who seems intent on provoking the discontented masses into violence. Across just 39 exquisitely choreographed long takes, Tarr and company craft images of equally great beauty and terror, now newly restored for the first time.

WERCKMEISTER HARMONIES • WERCKMEISTER HARMÓNIÁK
Directed by Béla Tarr
Co-directed by Ágnes Hranitzky
Written by Béla Tarr and László Krasznahorkai
From the novel The Melancholy of Resistanceby László Krasznahorkai
Cinematography by Milós Gurbán, Erwin Lanzensberger, Gábor Medvigy, Emil Novák, Patrick de Ranter, Rob Tregenza, Jörg Widmer
Music by Mihály Vig
Starring: Lars Rudolph, Peter Fitz, Hanna Schygulla

In Hungarian and Slovak with English subtitles

Winner of the Jury Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival 2001