THE CHRONICLE OF ANNA MAGDALENA BACH

CHRONIK DER ANNA MAGDALENA BACH

1968, JEAN-MARIE STRAUB AND DANIELE HUILLET, GERMANY, 94 MIN. WITH GUSTAV LEONHARDT, CHRISTIANE LANG.

friday, may 25th at 6:15pm

monday, may 28th at 3:00pm

thursday, may 31st at 6:00pm

Presented in a scrupulous new restoration to mark its fiftieth anniversary, this landmark film is still stunning in its ability to challenge our conceptions of the historical film, history itself, and film itself. The life and work of the great Baroque composer is presented from the perspective of his second wife, whose letters provide the basis of the anti-dramatically delivered narration. Personal details are sparse; most of the narrative is concerned with mundane details of job-seeking, salary-negotiating, and favor-currying, with original documents displayed to confirm the facts. The meat of the film is the performances of 26 of Bach's works, filmed in unbroken long takes and performed live on period-authentic instruments, mostly at the sites where they were first heard. There is no attempt made to fool us into thinking we can "re-live" the past or penetrate the minds of people who lived 300 years ago. The inevitable distance between us and Bach's historical moment, combined with the ability of his music to still be fully, thrillingly present, provides the central dynamic of this rigorous and paradoxical film. In English and German with English subtitles. New 4K DCP digital restoration. (MR)