Woyzeck

Adapted from Buchner’s 1836 play, this is a distanced, spare and dispassionate account of Woyzeck’s descent into nightmares and tragedy. Filmed in only 27 shots, the c... more >

Adapted from Buchner’s 1836 play, this is a distanced, spare and dispassionate account of Woyzeck’s descent into nightmares and tragedy. Filmed in only 27 shots, the camera gives the actors space in which to play out their lives, relationships and struggles. Kinski embodies the title role utterly, as Woyzeck finds himself increasingly antagonised by society and its failings of rational thought, companionship and love. Even the landscape is complicit in his impotent turmoil, and his brutal assault on Marie becomes inevitable. More troubling than this savage act of a goaded beast is the unruffled ending, where police and undertakers peer at the corpse and discuss how good it is to get a ‘beautiful murder, a real murder’, before calmly strolling out of shot, returning to a rational, scientific world where passions can be explained by diet. < less

View all 228 of Graeme Hobbs’s reviews

Depressing subjects - extremely well filmed and Kinski's performance as Woyzeck is outstanding. more >

Depressing subjects - extremely well filmed and Kinski's performance as Woyzeck is outstanding. < less

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DVD Extras

• Widescreen. Trailer, biographies, gallery. Optional English subtitles.

Film Details

Cast

Eva Mattes, Josef Bierbichler, Klaus Kinski

Technical Details