EYES DO NOT WANT TO CLOSE AT ALL TIMES
A film by Jean-Marie Straub, Danièle Huillet
1969, 88 minutes
1969, 88 minutes
No. 143
Narrative
Narrative
Description
The cinematographer Renato Berta, a frequent collaborator of Straub and Huillet, presents the first film that the partners shot together in Italy (on the Palatine Hill of Rome), which was also the first they made in color.
A faithful adaptation of Pierre Corneille’s Othon, the classic tragedy that premiered at the court of Louis XIV at Fontainebleau in 1664 and today is more hallowed than actually performed, Eyes do not want to close… depicts the power vacuum that followed Emperor Nero’s death.
Against a crowd of obsequious and scheming pretenders to the throne, Corneille has Camille as his epic heroine, the mother of all conscientious objectors.
A faithful adaptation of Pierre Corneille’s Othon, the classic tragedy that premiered at the court of Louis XIV at Fontainebleau in 1664 and today is more hallowed than actually performed, Eyes do not want to close… depicts the power vacuum that followed Emperor Nero’s death.
Against a crowd of obsequious and scheming pretenders to the throne, Corneille has Camille as his epic heroine, the mother of all conscientious objectors.
Festivals
Official Selection, New York Film Festival
Reviews
"Magnificently performed... I admired especially the film critic Adriano Aprà as Othon and Straub himself (a significant casting) as the murderous prefect Lacus. But, within the range allowed by the direction, beautiful Olimpia Carlisi, as Camille, gave me a fuller appreciation of what ancient royalty should have been like than has any other actress I have seen in the movies." - The New York Times
