Die Antigone des Sophokles nach der Hölderlinschen Übertragung für die Bühne bearbeitet von Brecht 1948 (Suhrkamp Verlag) (1992) User Reviews

neither cinema nor theater, only the words... beautiful

[jjr-76474 · 8/10 · 18 July 2021]

There is irony in Huillet and Straub.

They start from a title encompassing sophocle, Holderlin and Brecht, and then process to strip down all the over the top greek tragedy genre, the flamboyant romanticism or the ideology burdened staging by Brecht, and focus on the utter beauty of the storytelling.

This is why this couple is so important to the language of movies..

A 'Moving Theater': Brilliant

[souvikmeetszeus · 10/10 · 3 March 2014]

If Theater is 1 and Cinema is 2, Joao Cesar Monteiro's directorial style is at 1.7 and from what I have seen so far, Straub/Huillet's is a magical 1.3. And even if on the other side of the spectrum, their films also invoke similar reactions as Monteiro's, that comes from witnessing Cinema that is unique and unlike that is commonly known of. Their(S/H) shooting style is always sparse, simple, and every frame is like a theater, they just borrow the flexibility of angles and the freedom of stage preparation from films, and create their own brand of 'moving theater'. Antigone is most definitely a Brechtian film, as is Dalla Nube…, and again, a recreation of the mythological play Antigone by Sophocles. The film retells the tragedy with moving lines, delivered with utter poignancy, acted out to his heart by Werner Rehm, as the tyrant Creon, and also by all other characters. In this film though, the elements for theater are in full glory, more than in Dalla Nube… and the stage is awesome - the entire film is set in an amphitheater on a mountain cliff, never moving out. The play captures its subjects beautifully, and the characters move in sync with their words and surroundings, creating an experience that thrives on choreography, and less on conventional paradigms of a movie. The content is well executed, as the play takes shape in all its paradoxes and futilities, and man, did I enjoy losing myself in the mesmeric power of words again! Straub/Huillet has certainly hit a soft spot, through two films that are not for the impatient, but in its fruition, richly rewarding. Amongst other tiny signs of mastery, it is tremendous how Straub/Huillet execute the 'stage-touch' by simply letting his characters exit the scope of camera before moving on. Gives you a moment to think about what just happened, another important aspect of the theater. If you are tired of films, watch this play.

It is not working at all, which is more mostly the concept, but also the execution

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 22 June 2017]

Here we have Antigone and I will just call it like that because the incredibly long title this film has here on IMDb would give me a ton of words that IMDb spell check could not recognize and I could never send the review. Good thing you say, but I disagree! Anyway, the movie runs for slightly over 1.5 hours and was released back in 1992, which means it has its 25th anniversary now. It was made by married couple Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub back then and it is somewhat symbolic for their usual work. This Brecht-based movie looks like a theater play. There is a stage, there are actors, none of them famous or well-known, and several of them have hardly appeared in any other films, but probably in many other stage productions. I personally must say I am not familiar with the Antigone story and Material by Brecht, so I went into this film expecting nothing. Actually I did not expect too much as I did not like the other stuff by the filmmaking duo I have made so far and eventually this one here sadly turned out underwhelming too. Maybe it is a good watch if you love Brecht or the play or if you go to the stage theater on a regular basis because this is where the film would have been working, but not on the screen and that is a common problem I have with Huillet and Straub. The performances seem overly theatrical (in a negative way) and over-the -top from start to finish. It is an entirely subjective approach from me, but for me it was not working at all and it made me lose interest in the story pretty quickly. The sceneries were fairly nice, but this is also the only somewhat decent aspect from this "movie". I personally have to give a thumbs down here. Not recommended and from what I have seen I just cannot see H&S on par with the best other German-speaking filmmakers of the second half of the 20th century. Watch something else.

Eternal

[oOgiandujaOo_and_Eddy_Merckx · 10/10 · 21 June 2020]

The text of Antigone, as pointed out in the ultra-long title of the film, has gone through many metamorphoses, written initially by Sophocles, then translated to a new purpose by Holdlerin, then explicitly a play about Germany and World War II by Brecht, and finally as a film by Straub and Huillet, aimed at a contemporary audience (S&H removed the explicit references to WWII from Brecht's play). Given the date of production S&H may be invoking the spectre of the first Gulf War: a war for bronze fought by Thebes, may be the war for oil fought by the USA. The film is fascinating because of the textual mutation and comes across as a palimpsest, often evoking obvious comparisons to the fall of Hitler's Germany, but at other times having more ancient concerns. The imbued purpose of the film may more generally be a message about the necessity of "eternal vigilance". Although to sum the film up thusly is simplistic, missing its textures, digressions, and sublimities. For those additions, you have to watch the film.

There are lots of reasons to see this movie, but the one I'd pick out is Werner Rehm's performance as Creon, which is perfect (not to knock Astrid Ofner who is great as Antigone).