Nightwatching (2007)

Director:

Peter Greenaway

Writer:

Peter Greenaway (writer)

Release Date:

2 November 2007 (Poland)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | History | Mystery

Plot:

An extravagant, exotic and moving look at Rembrandt's romantic and professional life, and the controversy he created by the identification of a murderer in the painting THE NIGHT WATCH

Plot Keywords:

Picture | Europe | Art | Painter

Awards:

6 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Martin Freeman	...	Rembrandt van Rijn
Emily Holmes	...	Hendrickje
Eva Birthistle	...	Saskia
Jodhi May	...	Geertje
Toby Jones	...	Gerard Dou
Jonathan Holmes	...	Ferdinand Bol
Michael Teigen	...	Carel Fabritius
Kevin McNulty	...	Engelen
Agata Buzek	...	Titia Uylenburgh
Nathalie Press	...	Marieke
Fiona O'Shaughnessy	...	Marita
Reimer van Beek	...	Titus - newborn
Robert Zalecki	...	Titus - 4 months old
Kacper Kasiecki	...	Titus - toddler
Anna Antonowicz	...	Catharina

Also Known As:

Nocna straz (Poland)
Ronde de nuit, La (France)

Runtime:

134 min | Canada:141 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

Canada | France | Germany | Poland | Netherlands | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Czech Republic:15 | Japan:R-15 | Canada:14A

Filming Locations:

Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands

Company:

Kasander Film Company

Dull and dreary Dutch drama

I saw this at the 2008 Palm Springs International Film Festival. It's amazing how such a visually interesting film can be so boring. But then the visual interest wears off after a short time as well. Thius is the story of Rembrandt's famous painting from 1642, Night Watch. A costume drama set during Netherland's golden age filmmaker, writer, director Peter Greenaway takes the approach of creating every scene in this film as if it were a Rembrandt painting. The background is very dark with objects and actors geometrically arranged and clever uses of light with a light source from either the side, underneath or back lit to illuminate the scenes in a minimalist way. The scenes are staged like a stage play rather than a film and in fact it is actually a stage play with super large sets on film. Martin Freeman is Rembrandt and is good in the role he's given but the script is so rambling and with modern language that it's like Shakespere on drugs. Freeman is in virtually every scene and alternates breaking the third wall by addressing the audience and inter playing with the fellow actors. His role is oddly one dimensional in that he emotes the same whether he's happy, sad, argumentative, threatened, combative or tender and it really gets old fast. The art direction is beautiful but it too gets old fast. This is also a very noisy film where there may be a scene with a large cast of actors on stage and instead of those talking in the background heard as soft murmur or not at all, they are amplified and almost drown out the main conversation critical to the story. To top off this cacophony of chatter there is often a violin playing at a feverish tempo in high notes that is nerve wracking but at least it helps keep you awake during this dreary Dutch drama. Production design by Maarten Piersma, art direction by James Willcock and costume design by Jagna Janicka and Marrit Van Der Burgt are well executed but can't save this mess. I would give this a generous 4.5 only for the wasted talent that went into it.