The Magic Flute (1975 film)
Encyclopedia
The Magic Flute is Ingmar Bergman
's 1975 film version of Mozart
's opera Die Zauberflöte. It was intended as a television production and was first shown on Swedish television but was followed by a cinema release later that year. The film was shown at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival
, but was not entered into the main competition. The film is notable as the first made-for-television film with a stereo soundtrack. However, because of its 1975 television origins, it was not made in widescreen.
in a surreal puppet show featuring real people. For the film version he made a number of changes, most notably having the opera sung in Swedish rather than the original German.
Other changes include:
's 2006 film version
followed Bergman's version in several important details: Sarastro is Pamina's father. Monostatos is not afraid of Papageno, and Monostatos commits suicide at the end.
As scenes change, so the mechanics of the theatre reveal themselves; day turns to night as the Queen of the Night arrives and, from the point of view of an audience member, we witness the shifting backcloths moving to create the new scene. Similarly, when Papagena and Papageno joyously discover each other in a winter landscape, the chiming of the magic bells theatrically turns the scenery from Winter into Spring while the two characters remove portions of each other’s winter garments.
Furthermore, throughout the performance and during the intermission, we get backstage views of the theatre. Tamino plays his flute while, through the wings, we catch sight of Papageno and Pamina for, at this stage in the plot, they have not yet met. The opposite happens when Pamina and Papageno are on stage and, this time, it is Tamino who is seen sitting on a ladder in the wings. During the intermission, Sarastro's men gather on the stage chatting. Sarastro himself sits reading the score of Parsifal
while the camera pans
to one of Monastatos’ henchmen (a young boy in dark makeup and jester's costume) reading a Donald Duck
comic book. Pamina and Tamino play chess in the dressing room. The Queen of the Night smokes a cigarette (right in front of a "Smoking Forbidden" sign). Finally, as the curtain is about to rise for Act 2, a character peers through a low peephole in the curtain and he is joined by Sarastro who peeps through a higher one. Throughout, we are constantly reminded of the mechanics of the “show” we are witnessing.
However, the film is also very cinematic. There is an emphasis on close-ups of the singers, but the mechanics of cinema also allow for manipulations of time and space. For example, prior to Papageno’s entry, there is a cut to the singer backstage in his dressing room. Suddenly, to be ready for his cue, he jumps up and rushes to the wings where he plays the appropriate chord on his pipe, is then helped into his birdcage by a stagehand, and finally makes the appropriate entrance to find Tamino. Later, as Tamino looks at the locket containing Pamina’s picture, she comes alive inside the locket with the ominous face of Monastatos glimpsed over her shoulder, foreshadowing a possible problem. Equally cinematic are the obvious “real” scenes taking place in the snow, which could not be realistically created on stage.
Both theatre and cinema are important in the final minute of the film: each part of the action seamlessly dissolves into the other, as the camera pulls back, first to witness Pamina and Tamino in an embrace that, in turn, gives way to a theatrical backdrop falling into place. Then the backward moving camera (taking us further and further from the action on stage) shows us Papagena and Papageno also kissing. The couple is circled by a group of small children (possibly the little Papagenas and Papagenos lyrically imagined a few minutes before) until the camera pulls back further to reveal the proscenium arch and a dissolve
takes us to the final drop of the curtain and the rise of the audience’s applause.
According to film historian Peter Cowie
’s notes for the DVD release of the film, Bergman wanted to recreate as closely as possible the original 1791 production in the Theater auf der Wieden
in Vienna
. He had hoped that the film could be shot in the historic Drottningholm Palace Theatre
, one of the few surviving Baroque
theatres in the world, and the introductory exterior shots of the film suggest that this is where the opera is filmed. However, the scenery at Drottingholm "was considered too fragile to accommodate a film crew. So the stage – complete with wings, curtains, and wind machines – was painstakingly copied and erected in the studios of the Swedish Film Institute".
Ingmar Bergman
Ernst Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish director, writer and producer for film, stage and television. Described by Woody Allen as "probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera", he is recognized as one of the most accomplished and...
's 1975 film version of Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
's opera Die Zauberflöte. It was intended as a television production and was first shown on Swedish television but was followed by a cinema release later that year. The film was shown at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival
1975 Cannes Film Festival
- Jury :*Jeanne Moreau, President, actress*André Delvaux, director*Anthony Burgess, writer*Fernando Rey, actor*George Roy Hill, director*Gérard Ducaux-Rupp, producer*Léa Massari, actress*Pierre Mazars, journalist*Pierre Salinger, writer...
, but was not entered into the main competition. The film is notable as the first made-for-television film with a stereo soundtrack. However, because of its 1975 television origins, it was not made in widescreen.
Adaptation
Bergman had earlier featured The Magic Flute in his 1968 film Hour of the WolfHour of the Wolf
Hour of the Wolf is a 1968 Swedish film directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann. It combines elements of the film drama, surrealist film and horror film.-Plot:...
in a surreal puppet show featuring real people. For the film version he made a number of changes, most notably having the opera sung in Swedish rather than the original German.
Other changes include:
- Bergman made a major change in the plot: Sarastro is Pamina's father, shifting the basis of his claim to her custody.
- The Three Boys introduce themselves, instead of being introduced by the Queen's Three Ladies. Thus, Bergman's version does not show that the boys are in the Queen's service.
- A scene in which the slaves laugh happily because Pamina has escaped from Monostatos is deleted. (This scene is often left out of productions of The Magic Flute.)
- The prayer to IsisIsisIsis or in original more likely Aset is a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. She was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the matron of nature and magic...
and OsirisOsirisOsiris is an Egyptian god, usually identified as the god of the afterlife, the underworld and the dead. He is classically depicted as a green-skinned man with a pharaoh's beard, partially mummy-wrapped at the legs, wearing a distinctive crown with two large ostrich feathers at either side, and...
becomes instead a prayer to the Gods of Light. In fact, there are no longer any indications that the story is set in ancient EgyptEgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, and only architecture and technology hint at time or place. The story has become universal. - The sun-disk amulet, coveted by the Queen, is eliminated.
- Instead of first seeing Papagena as an ugly old hag, the movie audience first sees her as a beautiful woman who is trying to get to Papageno, but is not allowed to see him. In pantomime (as Papageno sings) she suggests to one of the priests that she disguise herself as a hag so that she can meet him, to which the priest agrees. We then see her putting on the makeup. When she meets Papageno, she at first does not reveal herself to him even as an ugly woman. When she finally does, she is so grotesque that Papageno, rather than being repulsed, bursts into laughter, and she laughs along with him.
- Papageno is an ordinary-looking EverymanEverymanIn literature and drama, the term everyman has come to mean an ordinary individual, with whom the audience or reader is supposed to be able to identify easily, and who is often placed in extraordinary circumstances...
instead of a strange bird-like creature. Monostatos is not in the least frightened by him. - The reunion of Papageno and Papagena precedes rather than follows that of Tamino and Pamina.
- The Queen is accompanied, in the film version, not only by Monostatos and the Three Ladies, but also by a whole army of fierce Amazons, armed with spears, shields and helmets, and she also wears a helmet.
Influence on the Branagh version
Thirty years later, Kenneth BranaghKenneth Branagh
Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from Northern Ireland. He is best known for directing and starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays including Henry V , Much Ado About Nothing , Hamlet Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from...
's 2006 film version
The Magic Flute (2006 film)
The Magic Flute is Kenneth Branagh's English-language film version of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's singspiel Die Zauberflöte. The film is a co-production between France & the UK, produced by Idéale Audience and in association with UK's The Peter Moores Foundation.In November 2005, it was announced...
followed Bergman's version in several important details: Sarastro is Pamina's father. Monostatos is not afraid of Papageno, and Monostatos commits suicide at the end.
Cast
- Josef Köstlinger – Tamino
- Britt-Marie Aruhn; Birgitta Smiding; Kirsten Vaupel – Three Ladies
- Håkan HagegårdHåkan HagegårdHåkan Hagegård is a Swedish operatic baritone.He studied at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and has performed on stages across the world, including Carnegie Hall, the London Royal Opera House, La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, the Sydney Opera House, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Vienna...
– Papageno - Birgit NordinBirgit NordinBirgit Nordin is a Swedish opera soprano. She was married to the Swedish bass-baritone Jerker Arvidson .-Life and career:...
– Queen of the Night - Irma Urrila – Pamina
- Ragnar UlfungRagnar UlfungRagnar Sigurd Ulfung is a Norwegian operatic tenor. Described in the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians as "a brilliant actor with an incisive voice", he was particularly known for his portrayals of Herod and Mime . He is also an opera director...
– Monostatos - Ulrik ColdUlrik ColdUlrik Cold was a Danish operatic bass. In 1963 he made his professional opera debut at the Royal Danish Theatre as Seneca in Claudio Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea...
– Sarastro - Elisabeth Erikson – Papagena
- Erik SaedénErik SaedénCarl Erik Saedén, born 3 September 1924 in Vänersborg, died 3 November 2009, was a Swedish bass-baritone whose career was principally centred on Stockholm, both on the operatic stage as well as the concert platform...
– Speaker - Sixten Fark, Arne HendriksenArne HendriksenArne Olav Weiglin Hendriksen was a Norwegian-Swedish ceramic artist and opera singer ....
, Sven-Erik Jacobsson, Ulf Johansson, Folke Jonsson - Priests - Bergman himself appears briefly in shots of the audience group, as does Sven Nykvist, the cinematographer and Donya Feuer, the choreographer.
Style
Bergman constantly reminds the viewer that this is a theatrical event, repeatedly showing the audience. As the overture begins, a close-up shot of the face of a young girl (in fact, Ingmar Bergman's granddaughter) fills the screen. Gradually this gives way to close-ups of a multitude of faces in the audience – faces of many races, ages, classes. The young girl from the overture reappears frequently, cut into the action on stage and reacting to those events; her facial expressions often express the mood of the music as it moves from lighter to darker.As scenes change, so the mechanics of the theatre reveal themselves; day turns to night as the Queen of the Night arrives and, from the point of view of an audience member, we witness the shifting backcloths moving to create the new scene. Similarly, when Papagena and Papageno joyously discover each other in a winter landscape, the chiming of the magic bells theatrically turns the scenery from Winter into Spring while the two characters remove portions of each other’s winter garments.
Furthermore, throughout the performance and during the intermission, we get backstage views of the theatre. Tamino plays his flute while, through the wings, we catch sight of Papageno and Pamina for, at this stage in the plot, they have not yet met. The opposite happens when Pamina and Papageno are on stage and, this time, it is Tamino who is seen sitting on a ladder in the wings. During the intermission, Sarastro's men gather on the stage chatting. Sarastro himself sits reading the score of Parsifal
Parsifal
Parsifal is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. It is loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the 13th century epic poem of the Arthurian knight Parzival and his quest for the Holy Grail, and on Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval, the Story of the Grail.Wagner first conceived the work...
while the camera pans
Panning (camera)
In photography, panning refers to the horizontal movement or rotation of a still or video camera, or the scanning of a subject horizontally on video or a display device...
to one of Monastatos’ henchmen (a young boy in dark makeup and jester's costume) reading a Donald Duck
Donald Duck
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit with a cap and a black or red bow tie. Donald is most...
comic book. Pamina and Tamino play chess in the dressing room. The Queen of the Night smokes a cigarette (right in front of a "Smoking Forbidden" sign). Finally, as the curtain is about to rise for Act 2, a character peers through a low peephole in the curtain and he is joined by Sarastro who peeps through a higher one. Throughout, we are constantly reminded of the mechanics of the “show” we are witnessing.
However, the film is also very cinematic. There is an emphasis on close-ups of the singers, but the mechanics of cinema also allow for manipulations of time and space. For example, prior to Papageno’s entry, there is a cut to the singer backstage in his dressing room. Suddenly, to be ready for his cue, he jumps up and rushes to the wings where he plays the appropriate chord on his pipe, is then helped into his birdcage by a stagehand, and finally makes the appropriate entrance to find Tamino. Later, as Tamino looks at the locket containing Pamina’s picture, she comes alive inside the locket with the ominous face of Monastatos glimpsed over her shoulder, foreshadowing a possible problem. Equally cinematic are the obvious “real” scenes taking place in the snow, which could not be realistically created on stage.
Both theatre and cinema are important in the final minute of the film: each part of the action seamlessly dissolves into the other, as the camera pulls back, first to witness Pamina and Tamino in an embrace that, in turn, gives way to a theatrical backdrop falling into place. Then the backward moving camera (taking us further and further from the action on stage) shows us Papagena and Papageno also kissing. The couple is circled by a group of small children (possibly the little Papagenas and Papagenos lyrically imagined a few minutes before) until the camera pulls back further to reveal the proscenium arch and a dissolve
Dissolve (film)
In the post-production process of film editing and video editing, a dissolve is a gradual transition from one image to another. The terms fade-out and fade-in and are used to describe a transition to and from a blank image. This is in contrast to a cut where there is no such transition. A dissolve...
takes us to the final drop of the curtain and the rise of the audience’s applause.
Behind the scenes
The sound was not actually recorded in sync with the photography. The singers pre-recorded their parts and then lip-synced to the music, which was played back as they performed.According to film historian Peter Cowie
Peter Cowie
Peter Cowie is a film historian and author of more than thirty books on film. In 1963 he was the founder/publisher and general editor of the annual International Film Guide, a survey of worldwide film production. Educated at Charterhouse School, and an Exhibitioner in History at Magdalene...
’s notes for the DVD release of the film, Bergman wanted to recreate as closely as possible the original 1791 production in the Theater auf der Wieden
Theater auf der Wieden
The Theater auf der Wieden, also called the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden or the Wiednertheater, was a theater located in the then-suburban Wieden district of Vienna in the late 18th century...
in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. He had hoped that the film could be shot in the historic Drottningholm Palace Theatre
Drottningholm Palace Theatre
The Drottningholm Palace Theatre is an opera house located at Drottningholm Palace in Stockholm, Sweden, which has been described by Per-Erik Öhrn, the theatre’s former artistic director, as "the Swedish jewel in our European cultural heritage crown of centuries-old theatres".Currently the...
, one of the few surviving Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
theatres in the world, and the introductory exterior shots of the film suggest that this is where the opera is filmed. However, the scenery at Drottingholm "was considered too fragile to accommodate a film crew. So the stage – complete with wings, curtains, and wind machines – was painstakingly copied and erected in the studios of the Swedish Film Institute".