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The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes
L'Accordeur de Tremblements de Terre
UK / Germany / France 2005
produced by Keith Griffith, Hengameh Panahi, Alexander Ris, Terry Gilliam (executive), Paul Trijbits (executive) for Koninck Studios, Lumen Films, Mediopolis, ZDF, arte
directed by the Quay Brothers (= Stephen Quay, Timothy Quay)
starring Amira Casar, Gottfried John, Assumpta Serna, César Saracho, Ljubisa Gruicic, Marc Bischoff, Henning Peker, Gilles Gavois, Volker Zack, Thomas Schmieder, Regine Zimmermann, Emil Petrov
written by the Quay Brothers (= Stephen Quay, Timothy Quay), Alan Passes, music by Christopher Slaski, production design and animation sequences by the Quay Brothers (= Stephen Quay, Timothy Quay), special effects by Gerd Grzesczak, Detlef Lenz, Peter Wiemker, visual effects by Dirk Frischmuth, Thomas Mulack/Optical Art
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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Malvina (Amira Casar), a famous opera singer, dies under mysterious
circumstances during a recital on the eve of her wedding to composer
Adolfo Blin (César Saracho) - but somehow she didn't die as such, and
Doctor Droz (Gottfried John), an admirer of the singer and demonic
scientist soon revives her for his own purposes and keeps her on his
island in a trancelike state, where he eventually plans to make her part
of his universe of automata - impressive mechanical devices that
display slices of life forever - and himself with her to be forever united
with her.
Piano tuner Felisberto Fernandez (César Saracho again) is invited to
Droz' island, but not to tune any pianos but to finetune Droz' automata,
and somehow he is torn into the macabre lovestory between Droz and
Malvina, and since he somehow resembles Malvina's fiancé Adolfo Blin, he
manages to get her out of her trance, at least temporarily, and
communicate with her - and ultimately he falls in love with her. With the
help of Assumpta (Assumpta Serna), Droz' servant and mistress who is madly
jealous of Malvina, Felisberto learns about Droz' demonic plans to shut
Malvina into an automaton, and ultimately he starts working against Droz,
and during the performance in which Droz wants to insert her and himself
into an automaton, Felisberto creates an earthquake, which kills Droz but
inserts Felisberto and Malvina into the automaton, where they are doomed
to repeate the same sllice of their life forever and ever - but at least
they are united.
Assumpta is left behind as guardian of the automata ...
A dark blend of fantasy, horror and romance, The Piano Tuner of
Earthquakes is actually not a film to be judged by genre standards,
it's more of a surreal piece of avant garde that defies a stringent
narrative structure and instead presents the audience with weird symbolic
scenes (often animated) and far-out plot elements that are deliberately
left open to interpretation, all carried by a very elegant direction in
elegantly designed sets.
True, the film might not be for everyone, the lack of a proper
narrative structure and the deliberate slow pace of the story might scare
away mainstream and trash movie audiences alike, but if you're willing to
step into what I would call a parallel world, you will be richly rewarded.
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