Narziss und Goldmund

In the film, Goldmund's sculptor master tells him how he gave up the true heartfelt art for commercial success... Well, that just about sums up the character of this feature.

Hesse's original novel is not anyway an accurate representation of history, so the film version should be also free from the pressure of historical-accuracy. But the overall presentation, from costumes, make-up, production design, cinematography, and atmosphere, are too much closer to those popular quasi-fantasy costume TV serieses such as the Tudors or Merlin. It is the world viewed through the glamour filter. I mean, such an entertainment has its place, but if that was the aim of the film makers, why did they bother with Hermann Hesse? They could just opt for a fantasy story with magicians and dragon... or something like that.

It's not terrible by all means. A large scale production, OK actors, some beautiful views... But it's ultimately too kitsch to have any true impact.

Spiritual insight can rarely be brought to the screen. Dreyer, Bresson and sometimes Rohmer achieved it, but good though this director is and visually exciting though the film is it is a banal rendering of Hermann Hesse. I do not think any of his books can be brought to the screen because all our visual pictures of his books are different to each person's inner screen: the imagination. The opening music tried to establish a ' religious ' feel and so did the scenery behind it. A brave attempt to attract an audience to Hesse, but sadly in our current era ( certainly in the UK ) this very great author has lost his appeal. Even in the 1970's when he was distorted by ' hippie ' culture and very popular he was distorted. A 4 for the director for trying.

I read the Hesse novel fifty years ago and can no longer remember it. However, whether this beautifully photographed film adheres closely to the original text is not important. The director and his brilliant cinematographer have created a series of scenes that engage the viewer and move effortlessly to the ultimate denouement. Actors, costumes, sets, and music are perfectly combined, and the film's editor never dwells too long on a take. The religious and personal feelings expressed are relevant to different viewers of our time. This little-known film deserves a much larger international audience.

A very nice try to adapt the novel of Hermann Hesse . The only small problem remains the novel itself.The work of Hesse remains only for its readers. The cinematography is contained by the pages , lines, phrases and words. Because the film is a decent one, with not small potential to be perceived as good , only if you ignore the book. The music has the desire to propose a sort of aura , the story itself becomes one of too many about forbitten feelings and new forms of comradery. But it is beautiful and a real nice try to give the essence of a splendid novel.

I will disregard Hesse's book and concentrate only on this film. Historical events allow an assessment of when it is set, costumes and language do not match, but that does not bother me. Narcissus and Goldmund are two boys who could not be more opposite. Narcissus is clever and has to hide his gayness, Goldmund has what today would be called street smarts, is certainly more of a flesh and blood person than the spiritualised Narcissus, but who also repeatedly holds progressive views, for example in his understanding of the image of the Virgin Mary. The friendship that emanates from Goldmund and the secret love of Narcissus could have been much more intense and not remained so much on the surface, as if they were only the occasion for a completely different story, which loses itself more in putting Jannis Niewöhner, an irresistibly sexy Goldmund, in appropriate situations where he stands naked in front of the camera time and again. Sabin Tambrea's Narcissus is pitiful in all his shame and repression, but lacks a bit of the necessary chemistry between both actors. Absolute negative moments for me were the two performances by Johannes Krisch as Goldmund's father, who, as is his way, uses every scene to detach himself from the camera and pretend to be on a theatrical stage. The direction switches back and forth between several subplots and cannot really decide what it actually wants to tell. And that is exactly the problem of this film, which sometimes wants to be a bit decadent, then again has the story of a friendship as its theme, but does not expand it strongly enough. And last but not least, some of the special effects are pretty lousy.