The Magus (1968)

The Worst Film Ever

Expected more

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

You may of course disagree but John Fowles sometimes "goes beyond the edge" and, in my view, after "The Magus" and "The French Lieutenant's Woman" he may have depleted his more interesting sources of literary creativity. As I look into "The Magus" I see in it a magnificent deconstructing of reality where symbologies & myth become the only identifiable elements in an unknown territory. I know of at least one Ph.D. Thesis dealing with similar topics here in Spain, at Comillas University, by a young American philosopher called M.Armenteros. He has seen the film and related its contents to some contemporary features of agnosticism. In "The Magus" the whole of reality is questioned. Only symbols appear as if to soften the sense of total absurdity. But even such symbols are discomforting, the meanings of life and death, deprived of transcendence, wind up getting closer and closer to the fog of mythology (i.e. "nothingness"). I interpreted the "Magus" as a film which attempts to depict hopelesness through absurdity. It is not about "climb every mountain" but rather "doubt every faith". In the book, the element of personal and political "Freedom" ("Elevteria") played a larger role in that deconstructed vision of a supposedly questionable reality. For both Fowles and Sartre our lives are an absurd where freedom becomes a mirage that distracts us from the only basic reality: death. Freedom is just meandering across our own hells. Even if I disagree with it I find the film discomforting indeed but worthy of watching and far better that the cheesier version of "The French Lieutenant's Woman".

I saw The Magus in 1968 in Tokyo, Japan where I was stationed in the Air Force. I was with four other airmen who were bored looking for something to do in one of the world's largest cities.One of the guys in our group had apparently read the book and suggested we go see it. "It will be a wild ride!", he said. By the time we walked out of the cinema we were, 1. In love with Candice Bergen. 2. Totally confused what point the movie was trying to convey.The guy who had read the book? "I, uh, didn't really understand the book either. I was kinda hoping the movie would clear up my confusion."It failed.

As an underage Coast Guardsman on liberty in a strange town I found the big screen version of this film a fantastic relief from the confusion of the era. Candice Bergen knocked my socks off, Anthony Quinn was my favorite actor. Michael Cain's character was my alter ego. The cinematography is better than outstanding. Sex, violence and horror were equally balanced by beauty, love, courage and integrity. You know how there are scenes in movies that stick with you long after the film is over, like Sixth Sense with "I"m ready tell you my secret..."? There is one scene on the Veranda of the Greek Estate where Anthony Quinn summarizes the meaning of life with one sweep of his hand. During the past thirty-eight years I have thought of that scene frequently and it helps transcend cynicism from feeling defeated. Several weeks after my first viewing I went to see The Magus again with a woman who was experienced with Tarot and had studied Greek and Egyptian mythology. It seemed even more interesting when she explained the meaning of the symbolism as it related to the flow of the story and added a great deal to the meaning, and the fun. People who often wonder, "What would God want me to do?" may find this film troubling. A previous commenter mentioned the TV version with ads and I couldn't agree more. I would like to get this on DVD and watch it again. Any thoughtful person would like The Magus.

my last review was about a movie i viewed at age ten (that one, mondo cane, 1962) affected my life "quite a bit". here, at age twenty, my horizons are all aglow with lust for life; and one little slide into an economy cambridge, massachusetts movie theatre during a 1972 midday special brought me upon the magus. the interesting setting mixed with an odd tension unlike i've ever experienced in any movie before (and i am an old movie buff: 1935 to 1975 being my strength) made me short of breath, my heart pounding hard as the depths drawn upon by these too quite favorite (not quite most-favorite, but favorites, none-the-less) actors thrust me into an experience that unbeknownst to me was perhaps two weeks away from presenting itself to me! so i drank thirstily from the cup, completely unaware that the lesson it would introduce to my mind could actually come in handy. i still look back at the odd role-reversing theories it employed, and utilize the intended juxtapositional ideology as an everyday tool/ instrument/ weapon/ defense... oh, heck: simply put, it's more like "you thought you had me! well, now i have you, and i surrender, so now you have me only because i agree to empower you!"...mmm, yeah, i'd say that could about sum it up.