Othon (1971)
Straub-Huillet’s first color film, adapts a lesser-known Corneille tragedy from 1664, which in turn was based on an episode of imperial court intrigue chronicled in Tacitus’s Histories. The costuming is classical, and the toga-clad, nonprofessional cast performs the drama’s original French text amid the ruins of Rome’s Palatine Hill while the noise of contemporary urban life hums in the background. Their lines are executed with a terrific flatness and frequently through heavy accents; the language in Othon becomes not merely an expression but a thing itself, an element whose plainness here alerts us to qualities of the work that might otherwise be subordinated.
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This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.
A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.
It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.
It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.