Ludwig (film)
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| Ludwig | |
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 Original film poster |
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| Directed by | Luchino Visconti |
| Produced by | Dieter Geissler Ugo Santalucia |
| Written by | Luchino Visconti Enrico Medioli Suso Cecchi d'Amico |
| Starring | Helmut Berger Trevor Howard Silvana Mangano Romy Schneider Gert Fröbe Marc Porel |
| Distributed by | MGM-EMI |
| Release date(s) |  29 December 1972 March 7, 1973 8 March 1973 15 March 1973 |
| Running time | 184 min. 235 min. (European cut) |
| Country | Italy France |
| Language | Italian French |
| IMDb profile | |
Ludwig is a 1972 film by Italian director Luchino Visconti about the life and death of Ludwig II of Bavaria, mostly known today for his blind admiration for Richard Wagner and his commissioning of many palaces in Bavaria such as Neuschwanstein and Herrenchiemsee. Visconti's muse, Helmut Berger, stars as Ludwig, while Romy Schneider reprises her role as Empress Elisabeth of Austria ("Sissi") from her 1950s Elizabeth trilogy.
Ludwig is a very languidly-paced film, but with an impressive sense of tragic crescendo. The fully-restored version, running over four hours, tries to build sympathy in the viewer for Ludwig's decadent, yet ultimately firmly constricted life. Visconti’s meticulous realism gives a bright picture of court life in the nineteenth-century Bavaria and shows with impressive dramatic pathos how a dreamy romantic idealist as Ludwig succumbs to the strenuous and urgent demands of his responsibilities as king. The political sphere of counselors, clergymen, princes and kings, as well as the intricate and often tense relations between the members of the royal family are treated in the film with an acute and refined sensibility to aristocratic decorum and way of living.
Instead of simply depicting Ludwig as mad, it is suggested that he was simply born a few centuries too late and would have made a good monarch during absolutism. However, in the 19th century the Bavarian king lacked real political power, causing Ludwig to indulge in his medieval Wagnerian fantasies while more or less ignoring the political reality at the time.
[edit] Background notes
The film was made in Munich and Bavaria, Germany and at the following locations: Berg Castle, Castle Herrenchiemsee, Castle Hohenschwangau, Hohenschwangau, Schwangau Castle Linderhof, Ettal and Neuschwanstein Castle.
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