The Trial (1962)
(Le procès)
Country: FR/IT/GER
Technical: bw 119m
Director: Orson Welles
Cast: Anthony Perkins, Jeanne Moreau, Jess Hahn, Arnoldo Foà, Madeleine Robinson, Orson Welles, Akim Tamiroff, Romy Schneider, Elsa Martinelli
Synopsis:
An office worker named Josef K. wakes up one morning to find himself under investigation by the police and then put on trial, but he is never told of what he is accused.
Review:
Kafka's nightmare of a faceless state is given potent visual backing by Welles, who used the most arresting locations as far-flung as Zagreb, Lazio and the Gare d'Orsay, Paris (which he filled with dozens of desks for the office scenes). As often, though, his startling direction of camerawork is compromised by the haphazard manner in which his films were made, with sound and editing being the principal casualties. Bookended by the fable of the man seeking access to the Law, Welles's theatre of the absurd treatment culminates in a stick of dynamite gag that anticipates Monty Python. In Perkins he found the perfect victim, a Josef K. tormented by his insecurities: self-righteously respectable and yet lustful; defiant, even contemptuous and at one point homophobic, he is ultimately accepting of his fate. Aside from Perkins's performance, Edmond Richard's expressionistic cinematography and Welles's staging, choice turns from the female cast, notably Schneider's lascivious kitten of a nurse to the advocate, Hastler, make The Trial perhaps its director's greatest work from his wilderness years.
(Le procès)
Country: FR/IT/GER
Technical: bw 119m
Director: Orson Welles
Cast: Anthony Perkins, Jeanne Moreau, Jess Hahn, Arnoldo Foà, Madeleine Robinson, Orson Welles, Akim Tamiroff, Romy Schneider, Elsa Martinelli
Synopsis:
An office worker named Josef K. wakes up one morning to find himself under investigation by the police and then put on trial, but he is never told of what he is accused.
Review:
Kafka's nightmare of a faceless state is given potent visual backing by Welles, who used the most arresting locations as far-flung as Zagreb, Lazio and the Gare d'Orsay, Paris (which he filled with dozens of desks for the office scenes). As often, though, his startling direction of camerawork is compromised by the haphazard manner in which his films were made, with sound and editing being the principal casualties. Bookended by the fable of the man seeking access to the Law, Welles's theatre of the absurd treatment culminates in a stick of dynamite gag that anticipates Monty Python. In Perkins he found the perfect victim, a Josef K. tormented by his insecurities: self-righteously respectable and yet lustful; defiant, even contemptuous and at one point homophobic, he is ultimately accepting of his fate. Aside from Perkins's performance, Edmond Richard's expressionistic cinematography and Welles's staging, choice turns from the female cast, notably Schneider's lascivious kitten of a nurse to the advocate, Hastler, make The Trial perhaps its director's greatest work from his wilderness years.
(Le procès)
Country: FR/IT/GER
Technical: bw 119m
Director: Orson Welles
Cast: Anthony Perkins, Jeanne Moreau, Jess Hahn, Arnoldo Foà, Madeleine Robinson, Orson Welles, Akim Tamiroff, Romy Schneider, Elsa Martinelli
Synopsis:
An office worker named Josef K. wakes up one morning to find himself under investigation by the police and then put on trial, but he is never told of what he is accused.
Review:
Kafka's nightmare of a faceless state is given potent visual backing by Welles, who used the most arresting locations as far-flung as Zagreb, Lazio and the Gare d'Orsay, Paris (which he filled with dozens of desks for the office scenes). As often, though, his startling direction of camerawork is compromised by the haphazard manner in which his films were made, with sound and editing being the principal casualties. Bookended by the fable of the man seeking access to the Law, Welles's theatre of the absurd treatment culminates in a stick of dynamite gag that anticipates Monty Python. In Perkins he found the perfect victim, a Josef K. tormented by his insecurities: self-righteously respectable and yet lustful; defiant, even contemptuous and at one point homophobic, he is ultimately accepting of his fate. Aside from Perkins's performance, Edmond Richard's expressionistic cinematography and Welles's staging, choice turns from the female cast, notably Schneider's lascivious kitten of a nurse to the advocate, Hastler, make The Trial perhaps its director's greatest work from his wilderness years.