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Othon (1970) Daniele Huillet, Jean-Marie Straub; Adriano Apra, Anne Brumagne
Othon (1970) Daniele Huillet, Jean-Marie Straub; Adriano Apra, Anne Brumagne
 
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Product Code: OTH
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This is a region-free DVD-R without case or artwork.

In French with English subtitles. This film is also known by the title 'Les yeux ne veulent pas en tout temps se fermer, ou Peut-être qu'un jour Rome se permettra de choisir à son tour', and 'Eyes Do Not Want to Close at All Times, or, Perhaps One Day Rome Will Allow Herself to Choose in Her Turn'.

Jean-Marie Straub's Othon is an adaptation of a late drama by Corneille, and juxtaposes the irreconcilable requirements of a drive for power with the urgencies of tragic love.

By placing his film in ancient settings (the Palatine Hill, and later, the Villa Doria Pamphili) that are however surrounded by the sights and sounds of contemporary Rome (traffic is the background noise for the earlier parts of Othon; an unnaturally loud fountain for the later parts) Straub, co-directing with his wife, Daniele Huillet, has included himself in the historical time scheme of considerable, multi-layered complexity - including, of course, 17th-century France (and the Rome of 17th-century France) as well as the ancient and modern worlds. Such complexity is perfectly typical of Straub, as is his ease with history, with literature, and with art. Although in color, and quite handsomely costumed, Othon makes very few concessions to ordinary sensuous response. Characters speak Corneille's verses rapidly and with minimal expression; the camera pans, often so as to avoid the face of the character speaking, and moves in and out - and except for one glorious tracking shot, that is almost all the camera does.

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