Bach Movies

F-0021

Title:

Die Stille vor Bach
El silencio antes de Bach
The Silence Before Bach

Category:

Documentary

Produced:

2007

Country:

Spain

Released:

Film: December 2007 (Spain)
DVD:

Director:

Pere Portabella

Writer:

Xavier Albertí; Pere Portabella; Carles Santos

Actors:

Christian Atanasiu (Mayordomo); Féodor Atkine (Vendedor de pianos); Georg-Christoph Biller (Himself); Christian Brembeck (J.S. Bach)
Àlex Brendemühl (Camioner); Georgina Cardona (Violonchelista); Lucien Dekoster (Afinador de pianos)'Beatriz Ferrer-Salat (Amazona); Gertrud Kossler (Clienta); Bert Kripstädt (Camarero); Lina Lambert (Madre de Mendelssohn); Daniel Ligorio (Felix Mendelssohn); Jordi Llordella (Amigo de Mendelssohn); Ferran Ruiz (Hijo de Bach); Thomas Sauerteig (Amigo de la violonchelista); Franz Schuchart (Guía turístico); Antonio Serrano (Acompañante del camionero); Fanny Silvestre (Anna Magdalena Bach); Mariona Solanas (Hija de Bach); Àlvar Triay (Camionero del Bar); Daniela Wick (Descendiente de Bach); Jens Wittwer (Hijo mayor de Bach); Johannes Zametzer (Carnicero)

Description:

Die Stille vor Bach is an approach to music and the trades and subjects that surround it through Bach's works.
A look at the profound dramaturgic relationship between image and music where the latter is not merely conceived as subsidiary to the image butas a subject of the narration in its own right.
The film springs from a previously defined musical structure. The soundtrack feeds on works by J.S.Bach and two of Felix Mendelssohn's sonatas to create an architectural vault beneath which the story of the film unfolds; apromenade through the 18^th, 19^th and 21^st centuries led by the hand of J.S.Bach. (Pere Portabella Website)

Real-life drama and documentary-style filmmaking blend with surrealistic whimsy in director Pere Portabella's passionate look at the ties between classical music and the construction of contemporary Europe. From a scene of J.S. Bach patiently teaching his son Christoph Friedrich how to play the piano to a truck driver who plays the composer's music on his harmonica, a pianist who plays the Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) while rolling through his enormous loft, a Bach impersonator leading tourists through Leipzig, and Felix Mendelssohn's curious discovery of the St. Matthew Passion (BWV 244) via a piece of meat wrapped in sheet music, this puckish, almost kitsch collection of skits takes a playful look at the legacy of a classical composer whose music still retains the power to inspire and influence. (Amazon)

Language:

Film: Spanish | German | Catalan
DVD: German (Dolby Digital 2.0), German (Dolby Digital 5.1), Italian (Dolby Digital 2.0), Italian (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Subtitles), Italian (Subtitles), Spanish (Subtitles)

TT:

102 min

J.S. Bach's Music:

Format:

Film: 35mm (5218-500ASA) | 1.85:1 | color
DVD: Import, PAL, Subtitled, Widescreen; Region 2

Company:

Film: Films 59
DVD: Sherlock Home Video

Comments:

Buy movie at:

DVD: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.de

Watch selections:

Sample [3:35]

Trailer [1:29]

Source/Links: IMDB | Pere Portabella (Official Website)
Prepared by: Aryeh Oron (October 2009)
Thanks to contributors: Eduardo Fresco Barbeito (October 2009)