Movie Details
Original Language:French
Production Companies:Janus Film und Fernsehen
Othon (1971)
Audience Score
StraubHuillets first color film adapts a lesserknown Corneille tragedy from 1664 which in turn was based on an episode of imperial court intrigue chronicled in Tacituss Histories The costuming is classical and the togaclad nonprofessional cast performs the dramas original French text amid the ruins of Romes Palatine Hill while the noise of contemporary urban life hums in the background Their lines are executed with a terrific flatness and frequently through heavy accents the language in Othon becomes not merely an expression but a thing itself an element whose plainness here alerts us to qualities of the work that might otherwise be subordinated
