''Parsifal'' is a 1982 West German-French opera film directed by

Hans-Jürgen Syberberg Hans-Jürgen Syberberg (born 8 December 1935) is a German film director, whose best known film is his lengthy feature ''Hitler: A Film from Germany''. Early life Born in Nossendorf, Province of Pomerania (1815–1945), Pomerania, the son of a ...

, based on the opera of the same name by

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

. It was shown out of competition at the

1982 Cannes Film Festival The 35th Cannes Film Festival was held from 14 to 26 May 1982. The Palme d'Or was jointly awarded to '' Missing'' by Costa Gavras and ''Yol'' by Şerif Gören and Yılmaz Güney. The festival opened with the 1916 film ''Intolerance'', directed b ...

. The soundtrack is a complete performance of the opera, but the imagery used is a melange including medieval costume, puppetry, Nazi relics and a giant death mask of Wagner. The Grail itself is represented by Wagner's Bayreuth Theatre, and Parsifal's key transformation is portrayed with a change of actor to an androgynous but deliberately female-suggesting form in order to achieve a union of male and female at the conclusion of Act II.

Cast

Armin Jordan Armin Jordan (9 April 1932 – 20 September 2006) was a Swiss conductor known for his interpretations of French music, Mozart and Wagner. Armin Jordan was born in Lucerne, Switzerland. "Mr. Jordan was a large man, with a slab of a face and a ful ...

- Amfortas / Music Conductor * Robert Lloyd - Gurnemanz *

Martin Sperr Martin Sperr (14 September 1944 – 6 April 2002) was a German dramatist and actor. He was born in Steinberg near Marklkofen and died in Landshut. Awards and honors *1978 Mülheimer Dramatikerpreis Works * 1965 * 1967 ''Landshuter Erzähl ...

- Titurel * Michael Kutter - Parsifal 1 *

Edith Clever Edith Clever (born 13 December 1940, in Wuppertal) is a German actress. Filmography *1976: ' *1976: Die Marquise von O. ('' Die Marquise von O'') *1978: Die linkshändige Frau (''The Left-Handed Woman'') *1979: Mädchenjahre (''L'Adolescente ...

- Kundry *

Thomas Fink Thomas Fink (born 1972) is an Anglo-American physicist, author and entrepreneur. He has published papers in statistical physics and its applications, written two books and designed an iPhone app. He set up the London Institute for Mathematical ...

- 2nd Squire * Rudolph Gabler - 1st Knight of the Grail * Monika Gärtner - 1st Squire *

Reiner Goldberg Reiner Goldberg (17 October 1939 in Crostau, Lusatia, Germany) is a German operatic heroic tenor. After his vocal studies at the conservatory of music "Carl Maria von Weber" in Dresden, Goldberg made his debut 1967 in the Saxon Theatre (Sächsi ...

- Parsifal (voice) *

Aage Haugland Aage Haugland (1 February 1944 – 23 December 2000) was a Danish operatic bass. Life and career Haugland was born in Copenhagen and made his professional debut in Oslo in 1968. From 1970 to 1973 he was based in Bremen, and appeared at Den Jys ...

- Klingsor * Karin Krick - Parsifal 2 *

David Luther David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

- Young Parsifal *

David Meyer David Meyer (born 24 July 1947) is an English actor. He is the twin of Anthony Meyer who has often appeared alongside him in film. He is best known for his role as a knife-throwing circus performer and assassin in the 1983 James Bond film ''Octo ...

- 3rd Squire *

Yvonne Minton Yvonne Fay Minton CBE (born 4 December 1938) is an Australian-born but mostly British-resident opera singer. She is variously billed as a soprano, mezzo-soprano or contralto. A native of Sydney, she originally studied voice while on a scholarshi ...

- Kundry (voice) * Bruno Romani-Versteeg - 3rd Knight of the Grail * Judith Schmidt - 4th Squire * Wolfgang Schöne - Amfortas (voice) * Amelie Syberberg - Bearer of the Grail * Urban von Klebelsberg - 2nd Knight of the Grail

Production

Prior to making ''Parsifal'',

had made three films which bring up the subject of

: '' Ludwig: Requiem for a Virgin King'' from 1972, ''The Confessions of Winifred Wagner'' from 1975 and '' Hitler: A Film from Germany'' from 1977. ''The Confessions of Winifred Wagner'' had upset the descendants of Wagner, which had the effect that Syberberg was not allowed to use any existing recording of the opera for the soundtrack of ''Parsifal''. A production was instead arranged specifically for the film, with

as conductor. The film was shot entirely in studio in 35 days, in Bavaria Atelier in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. The budget was just above three million

Deutsche Mark The Deutsche Mark (; English: ''German mark''), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was ...

Reception

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

John Rockwell John Sargent Rockwell (born September 16, 1940) is an American music critic, dance critic and arts administrator. According to '' Grove Music Online'', "Rockwell brings two signal attributes to his critical work: a genuine admiration for all ...

wrote: "Hans Jurgen Syberberg's film version of Richard Wagner's music drama, ''Parsifal'', should enthrall both film lovers and Wagner fans. Mr. Syberberg's work represents not only the summation of his career thus far, but is as gripping, strange and, in the end, devotionally faithful a staging as any Wagner opera has received in our time." Rockwell continued: "Just why Mr. Syberberg's scenic innovations don't seem as disturbing as other modern directorial innovations -

Patrice Chéreau Patrice Chéreau (; 2 November 1944 – 7 October 2013) was a French opera and theatre director, filmmaker, actor and producer. In France he is best known for his work for the theatre, internationally for his films '' La Reine Margot'' and ...

Bayreuth Bayreuth (, ; bar, Bareid) is a town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtelgebirge Mountains. The town's roots date back to 1194. In the 21st century, it is the capital of U ...

Ring Ring may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell :(hence) to initiate a telephone connection Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...

,'' for instance - is hard to explain. ... stead of their shocking us away from the romantic spell of the music, they reinforce that spell. It's as if Wagner's hypnotic allure and

Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

's intellectualized alienation have been somehow mystically united." Graham Bradshaw wrote in ''

London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review of ...

'': "Using clever front projection techniques, yberbergprovides a rapid background commentary on the main dramatic action: this is sometimes contrived and disruptive, but more frequently suggests the reflexes and ricochets of a mind that is actively engaging with ''Parsifal''."

References

Notes

* ''Hans Jürgen Syberberg and His Film of Wagner's'' Parsifal, by Solveig Olsen, University Press of America, 2006.

External links

*
About the Film
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parsifal (Film) 1982 films 1980s musical films 1980s German-language films German musical films West German films French musical films Films directed by Hans-Jürgen Syberberg Arthurian films Films about the Holy Grail Films based on operas Films based on works by Richard Wagner Opera films Parsifal 1980s German films