Teuflische Spiele

As much as I adore complex films, and philosophy, I dare you to watch this film and understand it to it's fullest - if you haven't read the novel yet, that is.

The unforgettable insights offered by John Fowles' book are completely gone, as the film turns into an empty allegory, aiming towards an arty approach, that backfires miserably. I guess the producers of 'The Magus' thought that art translated soft porn sequences, senseless dialogue chanted by awkwardly miscasted actors and poor editing.

Nevertheless, Anthony Quinn was quite good as Conchis, and Anna Karina was fair as well... if given more time, she would give a knockout of a performance ( 'Yes Or No... Yes Or No... YES OR NO!" )... at least they balanced the horrendous performances of Michael Caine ( "To Hell With Anne... ") and Candice Bergen ( "No... To Hell With Nicholas!" ) . I say that because I have recently finished an acting course, so I would understand more thoroughly acting itself, and I realize how hard it is to ACT... but anyone could do better than that!

But some good points that deserve notice are the stunning camera work, and the lovely soundtrack by John Dankworth.

Well, all things considered, this movie found me rather puzzled, yet, unmoved, and irritated. A glimpse at John Fowles' beautiful writings will make you want to smack the producers' faces even more. :)

Well... you've been warned.

I saw The Magus in 1968 in Tokyo, Japan where I was stationed in the Air Force. I was with four other airmen who were bored looking for something to do in one of the world's largest cities.

One of the guys in our group had apparently read the book and suggested we go see it. "It will be a wild ride!", he said. By the time we walked out of the cinema we were,

1. In love with Candice Bergen.

2. Totally confused what point the movie was trying to convey.

The guy who had read the book? "I, uh, didn't really understand the book either. I was kinda hoping the movie would clear up my confusion."

It failed.

I loved the gorgeous Greek scenery but the story, which is not something you can follow anyway, was even harder to follow in the movie. I cannot imagine how anyone watching the movie can get any kind of grip on it if they have not read the book, and then, like me, they would probably wonder why Australian Allison turned into French Anne, and many other seemingly pointless changes in the story. The mysteries in the book seemed to be chopped up or left out in the movie. I saw it when it first came out and had the same problems with it then, since I had read the book several times. I recently watched it with my granddaughter (very intelligent at 20 and usually into movies I like) who was mostly amazed at how young Michael Caine and Candace Bergen were in it, but otherwise could not imagine why one would watch it except for the scenery.

This film came out when I was a senior in college, and I loved it at the time. I thought it was really innovative and thought-provoking. It was also my first introduction to Eliot's famous fragment, which remains a particular favorite. It may be a difference in perceptions that is the root of the film vs book controversy because personally I can't stand Fowler as an author. I think he's extremely pretentious, not to mention boring. But that's just me. Other's like the book and hate the film because of their own perceptions. See the film and judge for yourself. I think it's definitely worth it.

I've read the Fowles novels-- including the original and the "new, improved" versions of The Magus (BTW the "new, improved" version was a bad move John, you should have left the damn book alone with its ambiguities intact), so it ain't like I are illiterate or somethin'...

Seems to me a lot of people expect a movie to be a book, and it doesn't happen. If you have a deep connection with the print, you have to be able to temporarily wipe the preconceptions from your brain and deal with it as a distinct presentation of material, or you're not going to like it.

I'm pretty sure this is what happened amongst the literati who were expecting to see the book version of The Magus on screen. So they did a snobbish hatchet job via criticism.

IMHO, this is one of Anthony Quinn's best screen appearances. I can't think of anyone else who could have filled the role as well. Green's direction keeps the film moving right along. The location settings are wonderful. Got no problems with the script. Michael Caine plays a terrific self-serving exploiter of women and relationships-- but in fairness Anne is a gutless wimp asking to be exploited-- incapable of making her own decisions (at least as rendered in the film). Candice Bergen does a very credible job in the schizo role of Lily.

This movie deserves restoration into its original aspect ratio and re-releasing on DVD. And maybe, like Eliot said in the bit from Little Gidding used in the flick, you might arrive where you started and know the place for the first time.