Film Review
The disintegration of the aristocracy and aristocratic values is a
recurring theme in the work of director Luchino Visconti and is perhaps
portrayed most vividly in this lavishly staged portrait of the life
of King Ludwig II of Bavria. It is not too difficult to see the
connections between the director, who was the descendent of one of
Italy's oldest and wealthiest dynasties, and the film's
subject. Both Visconti and Ludwig allowed art to take over their
lives, compromising their social position - although the former was a
true artist who achieved great things whilst the latter's greatness lay
in sponsoring those who did have talent, notably Richard Wagner.
Ludwig offers a fascinating
portrait of an intriguing historical character (who, like Visconti, was
an overt homosexual with a taste for the extravagant), but it is clearly far
more than that. What the film shows us is how man's natural,
deeply ingrained desire for freedom can never be satisfied. Art can free a
man's spirit to a degree, but it is a ladder than can only take us so
far above the mud in which we live. The chains that thwarted
Ludwig in his pursuit of fulfilment are echoed in the life of Visconti,
indeed any artist whose efforts are frustrated through the
constraints of talent, time, money and social obligations.
Ludwig is a film that echoes with
the cry of despair of an artist who seeks perfection but knows he can
never achieve it.
The tragic descent into paranoia and isolation of a man whose only
solace in life is art, who prefers building castles to court politics
and playing at toy soldiers with the lives of other men, is a story of
the utmost poignancy. In what is widely regarded as his best
screen performance, Helmut Berger conveys the pathos and obsessive
character of Ludwig with searing conviction. The actor had
previously made an impact in Visconti's earlier film,
The
Damned (1969) and would become the director's lifelong
partner. In the part of Elizabeth of Austria, Romy
Schneider reprises the role (Sissi) that she played in a series of
films of the mid-1950s and which brought her stardom at an
early age.
With its sprawling four hour runtime and its ambitious, beautifully
composed tableaux depicting Bavarian court life in the mid-19th
Century,
Ludwig is Visconti's
most unrestrained and artistically self-conscious film. Its reputation has suffered from being
released in various poorly edited versions; only the complete four hour
version has the integrity and power that its maker intended. Slow
moving and occasionally self-indulgent the film may be, but watched
in its entirety the patient spectator is rewarded with an
extraordinary cinematic experience.
© James Travers 2008
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Next Luchino Visconti film:
L'Innocente (1976)
Film Synopsis
Ludwig II is a mere youth of nineteen when he ascends to the throne of
Bavaria in 1864. A sensitive and idealistic young man, he shows far
more interest in the arts and architecture than he does in matters of
state. He is obsessed by the music of Richard Wagner and is a
generous patron of the composer. Preferring the company of his
own sex, the only woman who interests Ludwig is Elisabeth, Empress of
Austria, but she is unable or unwilling to be his consort.
Instead, he declares that he will marry her younger sister, Sophie, but
later changes his mind and immediately begins an affair with a young
actor. As Bavaria goes to war with Prussia, Ludwig can think only of
art and the many great castles he intends to build. His ministers
conclude that he is mad and contemplate his removal...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.