Winner of the Jury Grand Prix at Berlin, Bela Tarr has declared this to be his last film. It is loosely based around an incident in Turin in 1899 when the philosopher Nietzsche witnessed a horse being whipped in the street and subsequently suffered a breakdown, from which he never recovered.
The man who whipped the horse is a rural farmer who ekes out an existence with his daughter and their horse-drawn cart. We are immersed in their daily grind and the labour and sheer physical effort of their lives; as the old horse gets sick they must come to the understanding that it will be unable to go on sustaining their livelihoods.
Visually extraordinary and shot in black and white by regular collaborator Fred Kelemen, the film like Michael Haneke’s THE WHITE RIBBON, echoes the early 20th-century images of German photographer August Sander. Tarr’s trademark long-take approach is pared down even further – to the barest bones and a mere 30 long takes – and the result is a gauntly beautiful, minimalistic drama. Stark even by the standards of his previous work such as SATANTANGO and DAMNATION, some viewers not familiar with his distinctive style may be non-plussed or frustrated but patience brings rich rewards; others will be utterly mesmerized and thrilled.
