Une offrande musicale

I saw this film back at the 2005 Palm Springs International Film Festival and being interested in historical subject matter and in classical music I perhaps entered into this with too much expectations. This movie did nothing for me. I thought this would be a good opportunity to have a great soundtrack of Bach music but most of the music in it is by the film's soundtrack composer Frederic Devreese. Good period costuming and set design. Vadim Glowna is excellent as Johann Sebastian Bach. This film was shot on Super 16 and printed to 35mm and almost all of this film is shot with hand held cameras. I could only muster up a Fair rating for my review. I would give this a 5.5 on a scale of 10 and I could not recommend it.

Frederick II the Great of Prussia had a court that glittered with great minds, yet life with this King was anything but idyllic. He seems to have behaved imperiously with everyone, even his sister Amalie (at one point he slams the piano lid down on her hand, a rather brutal way of making his wishes known). All the fun of this film comes from the stratagems worked out by Bach to avoid falling under the control of Frederick. The King leads Bach to his new pianoforte: Bach pronounces the instrument unsuited for his music, and not even in tune. Score one for the Leipzig master composer!... The royal theme, to be treated as a fugue with six voices, is played lovingly many times, as well as Friedemann's passionate yet empty-sounding piano works.

Vadim Glowna is very sly and moving as Bach, and Juergen Vogel does a terrific job as Frederick, the ruler with a lot of emotional issues. Anatole Taubman plays the lusty and dishonest Friedemann very well.

The music is excellent. Of course. The clothes are designed by Vivienne Westwood. They only can be beautiful. Besides these facts, the movie won the Best Picture Award at the Swiss Film Prize. I found the story sometimes boring and quite long. On the other hand, the actors are all doing a great job. One last comment about the madness-and-"gayness" of one character. It could actually be taken out of the plot: it's too much and doesn't bring anything to the movie, to my point of view...

Thoroughly irritating work, harmful, lack of respect.

This is both a bad movie in itself and a source of misinformation. There is no absolutely feeling of authenticity. We modern people, as Rammstein describes us, are americans and consumers and we are doomed to sameness and we are spreaded everywhere. That is why director here is supposing the era of Bach people were like us, drinking, giggling, pissing anywhere (!), fornicating, conversations are made for entertain and without any sense of conviction and dignity. But no, this film is not a mythbuster, it is a falsification. Somebody here has taken name of Bach and is just pretending and acting he is (watch and compare this movie to Bach miniseries made in DDR in 1985). Strangely enough, the film is Continental production and actors speak German, so may this production be a warning example how movies should not be made in Europe.

The star in the film - a fatal miscast- does not resemble at all Johan Sebastian Bach who can be heard in his music, can be seen in the paintings or is described by his wife in "Anna Magdalenas little chronicle". The real Bach was profoundly religious, serious, always meditating his music, a humble servant of God and emperor. "Always honest", writes Anna Magdalena. Not a corrupt old rock star, aging Amadeus of Milos Forman: Lock up your daughters, the Bach family is coming to town! In reality, he gave up composing profane instrumental music to be able to focus on organ playing and that is why he moved from Weimar to Leipzig... Church organ has -if you think a moment- slightly a different character than the flute that is widely used in the movie. Bach had austere lutheran education, he worked as cantor and latin teacher and wrote tons of music for pedagogical purposes, to make other people better persons and musicians... he composed not a single opera.

But ok, I was not there, I did not know Bach personally. But I know that Voltaire visited Frederic the Great in 1740 (and second time about 1752) and Bach visited him in 1747. How could they possibly meet in the wagons passing by each others? Other rewievers here are grateful for this movie for it´s documental value...

The film is based on the 1747 meeting in Potsdam, Prussia, between JS Bach and Prussian King Frederick II, known in history as Frederick the Great. After his visit Bach actually did compose a work entitled "A Musical Offering," also mentioned in the film. As far as Frederick's sexual preferences are concerned, it is well known that although he married, he only saw his wife occasionally, and no children resulted from the union. Throughout his adult life Frederick never showed much interest in women: his interests were music, philosophy, and fighting wars. The one place in the film where some dramatic license occurred was in the treatment of Frederick's sister, Princess Amalia. But the real Amalia was a handful, just as she was in the film. In her early 20s Amalia actually eloped and became pregnant, thus ruining any chance of marrying her off to another royal house. An enraged Frederick hunted her down, had her marriage annulled, had her ex-husband thrown in prison for 10 years, and sent her to an abbey, where she spent the remainder of her life.

Through the fine acting, the sets, the costumes, and the edgy way the main characters were portrayed, the film is an excellent contemporary interpretation of an actual historical event.