Ludwig (1973)

Luchino Visconti's Complete Four Hour Masterpiece Digitally Restored and Re-Mastered!

Director Luchino Visconti (The Leopard, Death in Venice) brings his famed majestic style to this lavish and operatic portrait of Ludwig II (Helmut Berger), the 19th century `mad king' of Bavaria. Tormented by his unrequited love for his cousin, Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Romy Schneider), coupled with his obsession with the music of Wagner (Trevor Howard), Ludwig retreats into a fantasy world - building fairytale castles and ultimately losing his already-fragile grip on his sanity.

Featuring Over 2 Hours of Bonus Features:
Luchino Visconti "Life as in a Romance" Documentary
Silvana Mangano "The Scent of Primroses" Documentary
Piero Tosi Interview with Carlo Lizzani

The Enigmatic Monarch

"Ludwig"

The Enigmatic Monarch

Amos Lassen

Finally available on DVC is one of the most visually stunning movies ever made, Luchino Visconti's epic masterpiece, "Ludwig" (Koch). "Ludwig" covers the life of the king of Bavaria from his coronation in 1896, follows him as a romantic hero, his admiration for Richard Wagner and Wagner's betrayal, his affair with his cousin Elizabeth of Austria and her abandonment of him, his torment about his homosexuality and his ultimate madness.
Helmut Berger is a revelation as Ludwig and he immerses himself totally into the character. We get to see why Ludwig has been classified as "mad" and we identify and are drawn into his life.
Visconti was a thematic director and he again returns to themes he has used often--decadence, homosexuality and music. He not only deals with an aspect of history but the art and music of the time. This is probably the director's greatest and most intimate and personal film and could very well be Visconti's own biography to a degree. Ludwig is presented as a well-meaning but hapless victim of courtiers, artists and lovers.
When the film was released in 1972, it flopped as it was ahead of its time. It was thought to be overly long and a bit too graphic. It was later re-released in the 1980's with added scenes and it ran even longer and was shown as a mini-series. As Visconti delves into the human psyche, he studies the contradictions within--the self -destructiveness of physical pleasure and the search for spirituality; body versus soul. It is these two forces that dragged Ludwig to the limits. Ludwig surrenders to sexual perversion as he loses focus on the rude reality of life and at the same time he seeks artistic purity. This is what leads him into madness and ultimately to death. He builds dreams as he seeks to attain the eternal kingdom and his behavior becomes more and more erratic until he is violently forced off of his throne and the bourgeoisie and their idea of democracy replaces aristocracy.
The climax of the movie comes beautifully when Ludwig professes his love for Joseph Kainz in a moving scene of Ludwig accepting his homosexuality when he admits that the soul is more important than the body.
Romy Schneider as Elizabeth of Austria has never appeared more beautiful on the screen and Trevor Howard as Wagner is masterful. The entire cast is brilliant. The costumes and sets as well as the cinematography are all lush, beautiful ad perfect.
It is the direction of Visconti that is the star of the film, however and the brilliant performance of Helmut Berger that reflects this best. The film inspires awe and respect, admiration and pity all at the same time.
In one of the many unresolved scenes, Elizabeth of Austria arrives in her carriage at one of Ludwig's castles. She enters, goes up the steps, stops at the end of a very long hall and waits. Off-screen is heard a bit of laughter and the scenes fades. Could that have been Visconti laughing at us for taking so long to take his film seriously?
September 20, 2008

ludwig

Saw a special screening of the complete 6-hour version at the SF Film Festival about 8, or so, years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. Am truly disappointed that the complete version has not been offered yet in Region 1 format. Criterion did such a great job on Visconti's THE LEOPARD that they will, hopefully, retrieve this fumble in short order.Ludwig July 28, 2008

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