The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (1968)

Original title

Chronik der Anna Magdalena Bach

Directed by

Danièle Huillet, Jean-Marie Straub

Genre

drama film, biographical film, musical film, historical film

Country

Germany, Italy

Runtime

1h 34m

Rating

6.2 of 10 from 43 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This film presents the life of composer Johann Sebastian Bach as seen through the writings of his second wife Anna Magdalena. It shows rehearsals and performances of his music along with readings from historical documents. The story focuses on Bach's career and family life over several decades.

austereformalstatelycerebralcontemplativestarkdetailedrestrained

What happens

The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (German: Chronik der Anna Magdalena Bach) is a 1968 film by the French filmmaking duo of Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet. It was their first full-length feature film, and reportedly took a decade to finance. The film stars renowned harpsichordist Gustav Leonhardt as Johann Sebastian Bach and Christiane Lang as Anna Magdalena Bach. The orchestral music was performed by Concentus Musicus and conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. It is the first of several Straub-Huillet films to be based on works of classical music. The film was entered in the 18th Berlin International Film Festival. Though, as on all of their films, Straub and Huillet contributed to the film equally, Straub is the officially credited director. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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