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The Turin Horse

A torinói ló

Hungary, France, Germany, Switzerland, United States

2011

146 Min

Color, Black and White

2.35:1

Hungarian

Currently 4.3/5 Stars.
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DIR Béla Tarr, Ágnes Hranitzky

EXEC Elizabeth Redleaf, Christine K. Walker

SCR László Krasznahorkai, Béla Tarr

CAST Volker Spengler, Erika Bók, János Derzsi, Mihály Kormos, Ricsi

Berlinale (Competition): Jury Grand Prix, FIPRESCI Prize, CPH PIX (Maestros), BAFICI (Trayectorias), Transilvania (Hungarian Day), Edinburgh (International Features), Melbourne (International Panorama), Karlovy Vary (Horizons), New York, Toronto (Masters), Vancouver (Cinema of Our Time), Telluride, Chicago (World Cinema), Ghent (World Cinema), AFI FEST (World Cinema)

Synopsis

“In Turin on 3rd January, 1889, Friedrich Nietzsche steps out of the doorway of number six, Via Carlo Albert. Not far from him, the driver of a hansom cab is having trouble with a stubborn horse. Despite all his urging, the horse refuses to move, whereupon the driver loses his patience and takes his whip to it. Nietzsche comes up to the throng and puts an end to the brutal scene, throwing his arms around the horse’s neck, sobbing.

His landlord takes him home, he lies motionless and silent for two days on a divan until he mutters the obligatory last words, and lives for another ten years, silent and demented, cared for by his mother and sisters. We do not know what happened to the horse.”

These are Béla Tarr’s introductory words at the beginning of his film, which picks up the narrative immediately after these events, and is a meticulous description of the life of the driver of the hansom cab, his daughter and the horse. This Hungarian director’s new work bears all the hallmarks of his inimitable style including long takes, black-and-white photography and almost no dialogue. –Berlinale

Director

Béla Tarr

Born in 1955, Hungarian filmmaker Bela Tarr began making amateur films at the age of 16, later working as caretaker at a national House for Culture and Recreation. His amateur work brought him to the attention of the Bela Balazs Studios (named in honor of the Hungarian cinema theorist), which helped fund Tarr’s 1979 feature debut Family Nest, a work of socialist realism clearly influenced by the work of John Cassavettes. The 1981 piece The Outsider and the following year’s The Prefab People continued in much the same vein, but with a 1982 television adaptation of Macbeth, his work began to change dramatically; comprised of only two shots, the first shot (before the main title) was five minutes long, with the second 67 minutes in length. Not only did Tarr’s visual sensibility move from raw close-ups to more abstract mediums and long shots, but also his philosophical sensibility shifted from grim realism to a more metaphysical outlook similar to that of Andrei Tarkovsky. After 1984’s… read more

Ágnes Hranitzky

Ágnes Hranitzky, Béla Tarr’’s collaborator, editor, co-director and wife.

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Fellaheen

26May12

He didn't really understand Nietzsche.

Charles Coleman

18May12

I admire the usage of long takes and the beautiful black & white photography. The films drags and there's literally no escape for the characters or the viewer which I suppose is the point of the film, perhaps? But I thought it was too much.

roujin

16May12

We covered this film on our podcast, Cinema on the Road: http://cinemaontheroad.com/?p=245

David Grillo

4May12

This may be his masterpiece, domestic indifference coupled with nature's indifference taken down the very hole we dug out for ourselves.

Francisco R. and 3 others like this

Deep-Immersion, Slowart, Langston Young

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Articles

Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.

Daily Briefing. Béla Tarr, "Swoon" @ 20 and Catherine Robbe-Grillet

By David Hudson on February 3, 2012

Also: Farocki, Amos Poe, Tuesday Weld and Anthony Perkins, Barbara Hammer, Fritz Lang and a busy season for admirers of Sherlock Holmes.

read article

Movie Posters of the Week: “Come Back, Africa” & “The Turin Horse”

By Adrian Curry on January 20, 2012

Adrian Curry looks at two new posters designed by Scott Meola.

read article

Daily Viewing. New trailer for Béla Tarr's "The Turin Horse"

By David Hudson on January 12, 2012

A little more than a dying lamp this time.

read article

Notebook's 4th Writers Poll: Fantasy Double Features of 2011

By Notebook on January 3, 2012

In our annual poll, we pair our favorite new films of 2011 with older films seen in the same year to create fantastic double features.

read article

Sight & Sound Poll 2011: Top Ten

By David Hudson on December 1, 2011

“Our film of 2011 is The Tree of Life (by a country mile).”

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European Film Award Nominations

By David Hudson on November 5, 2011

Lars von Trier’s Melancholia leads with eight.

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Daily Briefing. Jacques Rancière on Béla Tarr

By David Hudson on November 4, 2011

Also: Quite the David Lynch package in the Guardian. Remembering horror producer Richard Gordon. And more.

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Tracking Shots at the Gates of Dawn

By Doug Dibbern on October 31, 2011

Béla Tarr’s masterful “final film,” The Turin Horse, is now seeing a theatrical release in the US.

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NYFF 2011. Béla Tarr's "The Turin Horse"

By David Hudson on October 9, 2011

A highlight of this roundup on Tarr’s last film: Robert Koehler’s interview with cinematographer Fred Kelemen.

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The Camera Moves #3

By David Phelps on October 8, 2011

How a tracking shot saved Europe.

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NYFF 2011. The Shawl from Bela Tarr's "The Turin Horse"

By Daniel Kasman on October 3, 2011

A telling, accidental detail changes the feel of one of the Hungarian master’s virtuoso camera moves in his newest film.

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Movie Poster of the Week: The Posters of the 49th New York Film Festival

By Adrian Curry on September 30, 2011

A look at the posters for the films in the main slate of this year’s New York Film Festival.

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Béla Tarr, Japan Cuts, Summer of Silents

By David Hudson on June 13, 2011

A couple of weeks ago, The Cinema Guild announced that it had acquired US distribution rights to what, for me at any rate, remains the best

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Hungary cancels premiere and distribution of Béla Tarr's "The Turin Horse"

By David Hudson on March 8, 2011

The Hungarian premiere of Béla Tarr's The Turin Horse (review and roundup) in Budapest this coming Thursday was to have been a celebration

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Festival Work

By Daniel Kasman on March 1, 2011

PROLOGUE: Finding Work Berlinale, like several other international film festivals, has a "market" component to the festivities separate from

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Berlinale 2011. Golden Bear for "Nader and Simin, a Separation"

By David Hudson on February 19, 2011

What a night for Asghar Farhadi's Nader and Simin, a Separation. Not only has the International Jury of this year's Berlinale, presided over

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Berlinale 2011. Béla Tarr's "The Turin Horse"

By David Hudson on February 17, 2011

Notes will follow, but first, an introduction: "Among cinephiles the most anticipated competition entry by far was The Turin Horse, the

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Video of the day. Trailer for Béla Tarr's "The Turin Horse"

By Daniel Kasman on February 16, 2011

Trailer for Béla Tarr’s “The Turin Horse”

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NYC Happenings: The Complete Works of Béla Tarr At Lincoln Center

By Twitchfilm.com on January 20, 2012

Throughout the years I’ve encountered many a varied opinion on Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr. Some hail him as a maestro of the medium, the heir apparent to Tarkovsky. Others dismiss him right off, finding

→ read on Twitchfilm.com

TIFF 2011: THE TURIN HORSE

By Twitchfilm.com on December 16, 2011

The Turin Horse (Béla Tarr, 2011). My kneejerk reaction to Béla Tarr’s Berlinale winner The Turin Horse is to recite the childhood jingle, “One potato, two potato, three potato, four.” Exacting but exquisite

→ read on Twitchfilm.com

VIFF 2011: THE TURIN HORSE Review

By Twitchfilm.com on October 14, 2011

Before I even attempt to review The Turin Horse, I have to make clear that it is only the second Bela Tarr film I’ve seen, after Man from London. Since Tarr is very obviously the definition of an auteur

→ read on Twitchfilm.com

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The Turin Horse

A torinói ló

Hungary, France, Germany, Switzerland, United States

2011

DIR Béla Tarr, Ágnes Hranitzky

EXEC Elizabeth Redleaf, Christine K. Walker

PROD Gábor Téni

SCR László Krasznahorkai, Béla Tarr

DP Fred Kelemen

CAST Volker Spengler, Erika Bók, János Derzsi, Mihály Kormos, Ricsi

ED Ágnes Hranitzky

MUSIC Mihály Vig

SOUND Gábor Erdélyi

Synopsis

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