Othon
6.6
Straub-Huillet’s first color film, adapts a lesser-known Corneille tragedy from 1664, which in turn was based on an episode of imperial court intrigue chronicled in Tacitus’s Histories. The costuming is classical, and the toga-clad, nonprofessional cast performs the drama’s original French text amid the ruins of Rome’s 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.
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Cast
10 people
Adriano Aprà
Othon
Known for
Dillinger Is Dead
Anne Brumagne
Plautine
No other roles listed
Ennio Lauricella
Galba
Also in
From the Clouds to the Resistance
Olimpia Carlisi
Camille
Known for
You Upset Me
Fellini's Casanova
Anthony Pensabene
Vinius
No other roles listed
Jean-Marie Straub
Lucus
Also in
Introduction to Arnold Schoenberg’s Accompaniment to a Cinematic Scene
Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet at Work on a Film Based on Franz Kafka’s Amerika
Jean-Claude Biette
Martianus
Known for
A Tale of Winter
Marilù Parolini
Flavie
Also in
Every Revolution Is a Throw of the Dice
Eduardo de Gregorio
Atticus
Sergio Rossi
Rutile
Also in
The Green Trail
Gamma
Jean-Marie Straub Director · Danièle Huillet Director Pierre Corneille Author
United States release November 18, 1971 · Produced in Germany · Original title Les yeux ne veulent pas en tout temps se fermer, ou Peut-être qu'un jour Rome se permettra de choisir à son tour
Production
Janus Film und Fernsehen
Production
Germany
Produced in
Languages
Original title
Les yeux ne veulent pas en tout temps se fermer, ou Peut-être qu'un jour Rome se permettra de choisir à son tour
Original language
French
Spoken on screen
French
Release dates
Italy · January 4, 1970
Premiere · Rapallo Film Festival
France · January 13, 1971
Theatrical
United States · November 18, 1971
Limited theatrical · St. Marks Cinema, New York
United States
September 12, 1970 · Premiere · New York Film Festival
Germany
October 8, 1970 · Premiere · Mannheim Film Festival
January 26, 1971 · TV · ZDF
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Some details come from TheTVDB.