| Lars Rudolph | ... | János Valuska | |
| Peter Fitz | ... | György Eszter | |
| Hanna Schygulla | ... | Tünde Eszter | |
| János Derzsi | ... | Man In The Broad-Cloth Coat | |
| Djoko Rosic | ... | Man In Western Boots (as Djoko Rossich) | |
| Tamás Wichmann | ... | Man In The Sailor-Cap | |
| Ferenc Kállai | ... | Director | |
| Mihály Kormos | ... | Factotum | |
| Putyi Horváth | ... | Porter (as dr. Horváth Putyi) | |
| Enikö Börcsök | |||
| Éva Almássy Albert | ... | Aunt Piri (as Almási Albert Éva) | |
| Irén Szajki | ... | Mrs. Harrer | |
| Alfréd Járai | ... | Lajos Harrer | |
| György Barkó | ... | Mr. Nadabán | |
| Lajos Dobák | ... | Mr. Volent | |
| András Fekete | ... | Mr. Árgyelán | |
| Gyuri Dósa Kiss | |||
| Józsi Mihályfi | |||
| Péter Dobai | ... | Chief Constable | |
| Géza Balkay | |||
| Kati Lázár | ... | Sorter | |
| Péter Tóth | |||
| László feLugossy | ... | Housepainter | |
| Gyula Pauer | ... | Mr. Hagelmayer | |
| Barna Mihók | ... | Coachman | |
| Viktor Lois | ... | Loader | |
| Béla Máriáss | ... | Mr. Mádai | |
| Mátyás Dráfi | ... | Man In The Fur-Cap | |
| József Ropog | ... | The Man Beside Him | |
| Sandor Bese | ... | The Prince | |
| Erika Horineczky | |||
| Béla Nagy | |||
| Ágnes Kamondy | |||
| Péter Magyar | |||
| Dóra Kováts | |||
| Gábor Werner | |||
| rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
| Lajos Bulocs | |||
| Ferenc Gazdag | |||
| Gyula Herpai | |||
| Tibor Komáromi | |||
| Géza Kósa | |||
| József Szántó | |||
| János Váradi | |||
| Miklós Waszlavik | (as Vaszlavik Miklós) | ||
Directed by | |||
| Béla Tarr | |||
| Ágnes Hranitzky | (co-director) | ||
Writing credits | ||
| László Krasznahorkai | (novel "The Melancholy of Resistance") | |
| László Krasznahorkai | (screenplay) & | |
| Béla Tarr | (screenplay) | |
| Péter Dobai | (additional dialogue) & | |
| Gyuri Dósa Kiss | (additional dialogue) & | |
| György Fehér | (additional dialogue) | |
Produced by | |||
| Ralph E. Cotta | .... | associate producer | |
| Franz Goëss | .... | producer | |
| Paul Saadoun | .... | producer | |
| Miklós Szita | .... | producer | |
| Béla Tarr | .... | associate producer | |
| Joachim von Vietinghoff | .... | producer | |
Original Music by | |||
| Mihály Vig | |||
Cinematography by | |||
| Patrick de Ranter | |||
| Miklós Gurbán | |||
| Erwin Lanzensberger | |||
| Gábor Medvigy | |||
| Emil Novák | |||
| Rob Tregenza | |||
Film Editing by | |||
| Ágnes Hranitzky | |||
Set Decoration by | |||
| Sándor Katona | |||
| Zsuzsa Mihalek | |||
| Béla Zsolt Tóth | |||
Costume Design by | |||
| János Breckl | |||
Makeup Department | |||
| Erzsébet Rácz | .... | makeup artist | |
Production Management | |||
| Lajos Gerhardt | .... | production manager | |
| Gábor Koncz | .... | unit manager | |
| Gábor Téni | .... | production manager | |
Art Department | |||
| Sándor Katona | .... | set dresser | |
| Gyula Pauer | .... | artistic consultant | |
| Béla Zsolt Tóth | .... | property master | |
Sound Department | |||
| Csaba Erös | .... | boom operator | |
| László Gyõrffy | .... | sound recordist (as Szentmihályi Gyõrffy László) | |
| Gábor ifj. Erdélyi | .... | sound editor | |
| Brigitta Kajdácsi | .... | dialog editor | |
| György Kovács | .... | sound designer | |
| György Kovács | .... | sound re-recording mixer | |
Special Effects by | |||
| Éva Karczag | .... | sculptor | |
| Iván Pohárnok | .... | whale mock-up designer | |
| Péter Pozsonyi | .... | special effects technician | |
| András Rose | .... | sculptor | |
Visual Effects by | |||
| Csaba Juhász | .... | title design and production | |
Editorial Department | |||
| András Bederna | .... | grader | |
| Baba Deimanik | .... | grader (as Tamásné Deimanik) | |
| Renate Malinowski | .... | grader | |
| Éva Szentandrási | .... | assistant editor | |
Other crew | |||
| Tamás Bolba | .... | voice dubbing: Lars Rudolph | |
| Péter Haumann | .... | voice dubbing: Peter Fitz | |
| Attila Kaszás | .... | voice dubbing: Sandor Bese | |
| László Moog | .... | technician | |
| Marianna Moór | .... | voice dubbing: Hanna Schygulla | |
| Zoltán Pataki | .... | technician | |
| Péter Hagen | .... | production assistant (uncredited) | |
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| Die Blechtrommel | The War of the Worlds | La tregua | The Unbearable Lightness of Being | Capitaine Conan |
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| Full cast and crew | Company credits | External reviews |
| IMDb Drama section | IMDb Hungary section | Add this title to MyMovies |
It is closing time in a bar somewhere in Eastern Europe. Someone says, "Show us, Janos". A blank faced young man, Janos Valuska (Lars Rudolph), begins to organize a ballet of inebriated patrons playing the Sun and the Moon turning in their orbits. Valuska pleads, "All I ask is that you step with me into the bottomlessness." As the dance continues, the men are spun. They stop suddenly as the orchestrater tells us that "in this awful, incomprehensible dusk, everything that lives is still " Then, with a push, the dancers carry on until the Earth emerges from the Moon's shadow. The eternal conflict between darkness and light begins again.
Containing shots that last up to fifteen minutes at a time, Werckmeister Harmonies, the latest film by Bela Tarr (Satantango, Damnation), is a nightmarish vision of a society duped by political demagogues and distracted by circuses, being led into a cycle of violence and despair. Based on a novel by László Krasznahorkai, it is a powerful and disturbing film that, in its surreal depiction of growing madness in an unnamed town, is reminiscent of Roy Andersson's Songs From the Second Floor. The film takes its name from the theories of Janos' "uncle" Gyorgy Eszter (Peter Fitz), a musicologist who tells him of his obsession with the legacy of Andreas Werckmeister, a 17th century German musician who created the twelve-tone scale. Eszter believes that perfect order does injustice to the holiness of music, and says that the heavens move to their own music.
As Janos leaves the bar and walks through the cold and half-deserted streets, streets that in T.S. Eliot's phrase "follow like a tedious argument of insidious intent", an enormous van drives up the main street and comes to rest in a great empty square in the town center. A circus is in town. The exhibit contains the world's largest whale, dead and stuffed with tiny staring eyes, and The Prince, a shadowy figure that we never see. The town is full of rumors of impending violence. Janos sees the whale and watches a growing group of seemingly unemployed middle aged men gather silently around fires in the square. He seems to know everyone in the town. To further her political agenda of "town cleansing" (read ethnic cleansing), Eszter's estranged wife, Tunde (Hanna Schygulla), sends the compliant Janos on errands. He is told to put the children of the police chief to bed but, as if presaging the coming violence, they stomp on their beds to a cacophony of noise while one shouts at Janos over and over again. "It will be hard for you". "It will be hard for you." He is also asked to listen to conversations in the square and report back to her, but he only hears the Prince saying, `What they build and what they will build is illusion and lies. What they think and what they will think is ridiculous'.
When the signal is given, the men in the square come together and march towards us with growing anger in a hypnotic parade lasting five terrifying minutes. They go on a rampage, setting fires and ransacking a hospital, beating the sick in an unbroken orgy of violence. Patients huddle by their beds in silent fear. Suddenly a door is opened. Confronted by the menacing faces, an emaciated old man stands naked in a shower bathed in an amorphous light. Transfixed by what they have seen, the men abandon their task and retreat silently into the street. On the morning after, order is restored. The van is broken down and the whale is exposed as little more than an overstuffed balloon. The Sun emerges from behind the Moon to the swell of ineffably beautiful music. We have reached the end of the cycle only to begin dancing again when the next Prince calls the tune.