- Ludwig (film)
Infobox_Film
name = Ludwig
caption = Original film poster
imdb_id = 0068883
writer =Luchino Visconti Enrico Medioli Suso Cecchi d'Amico
starring =Helmut Berger Trevor Howard Silvana Mangano Romy Schneider Gert Fröbe John Moulder Brown Marc Porel
director =Luchino Visconti
producer =Dieter Geissler Ugo Santalucia
distributor =MGM -EMI
released = flagicon|Germany29 December 1972
flagicon|ItalyMarch 7 ,1973
flagicon|USA8 March 1973
flagicon|France15 March 1973
runtime = 184 min.
235 min. (European cut)
language = Italian
French
country =Italy
France
budget ="Ludwig" is a 1972 film by Italian director
Luchino Visconti about the life and death ofLudwig II of Bavaria , mostly known today for his blind admiration forRichard Wagner and his commissioning of many palaces inBavaria such asNeuschwanstein andHerrenchiemsee . Visconti'smuse ,Helmut Berger , stars as Ludwig, whileRomy Schneider reprises her role asEmpress 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.
Background notes
The film was made in
Munich andBavaria , Germany and at the following locations:
Berg Castle, Castle Herrenchiemsee, Castle Hohenschwangau,Hohenschwangau ,Schwangau Castle Linderhof,Ettal and Neuschwanstein Castle. During filming in Linderhof Castle the temperature in the famed mirror hall got so high that one of the mirrors cracked as a result, it is to this day the only broken piece in the original decor of the hall.
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