Prospero's Books (1991)

Directed by

Peter Greenaway

Genre

drama film, fantasy film

Country

United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Italy

Runtime

2h 09m

Rated

R

Rating

6.8 of 10 from 104 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A retelling of Shakespeare's The Tempest where the magician Prospero controls the action and speaks all the characters' lines. The story mixes live action with animation and opera as Prospero conjures a storm and schemes on an enchanted island.

avant-gardedreamlikeoperaticvisually lushcerebralslow-burnerotictheatricalexperimental

What happens

Prospero's Books is a 1991 British avant-garde film adaptation of William Shakespeare's The Tempest, written and directed by Peter Greenaway. Sir John Gielgud plays Prospero, the protagonist who provides the off-screen narration and the voices to the other story characters. As noted by Peter Conrad in The New York Times on 17 November 1991, Greenaway intended the film “as an homage to the actor and to his 'mastery of illusion.' In the film, Prospero is Shakespeare, and having rehearsed the action inside his head, speaking the lines of all the other characters, he concludes the film by sitting down to write The Tempest.” Stylistically, Prospero's Books is narratively and cinematically innovative in its techniques, combining mime, dance, opera, and animation. About a tenth of the movie was made on Japanese high definition television (HDTV). Edited in Japan, it makes extensive use of digital image manipulation (using Hi-Vision video inserts and the Quantel Paintbox system), often overlaying multiple moving and still pictures with animations. Michael Nyman composed the musical score and Karine Saporta choreographed the dance. The film is also notable for its extensive use of nudity, reminiscent of Renaissance paintings of mythological characters. The nude actors and extras represent a cross-section of male and female humanity. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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