Main Cast: John Gielgud, Michael Clark, Michel Blanc, Erland Josephson, Isabelle Pasco
Release Year: 1991
Country: FR/UK
Run Time: 129 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Puzzle-master Peter Greenaway exposes another aspect of his peculiar obsessions to the filmgoing public. Prospero's Books uses Shakespeare as a foundation and then skips along to define its own lush territory. The books of the title are briefly referenced in The Tempest -- Prospero is a magician who gets to keep only a small fragment of his enormous library when he is exiled with his daughter to an enchanted island. In the film, Prospero is played by Sir John Gielgud. Indeed, everybody is voiced by Gielgud as he describes the events that unfold. But mostly, he describes the books, and as he does, the screen fills with florid calligraphies, astonishing diagrams, extravagant paintings, and lots and lots of naked people. ~ John Voorhees, All Movie Guide
Review
A radical re-interpretation of Shakespeare's The Tempest, Peter Greenaway's Prospero's Books stars Sir John Gielgud as the title character, the former Duke of Milan exiled to a remote island to live with his cherished books and daughter Miranda (Isabelle Pasco). A linear adaptation of The Tempest this is not, however: for Greenaway, the books are more important than Prospero himself. Like its hero, the film is enraptured by the written word, and is densely layered with textual images -- pages, typography, calligraphy and illustrations -- composed in a series of double exposures and transparent overlays with the aid of a device dubbed an electronic paintbox. The soundtrack is similarly complex, an aural tapestry weaving together sound effects, echo chambers and Michael Nyman's neo-classical score. Like so much of Greenaway's work, Prospero's Books is also fascinated with the human form. In the style of Renaissance art, the film examines a parade of naked bodies, luxuriating in a sensuality buried in the original text. A difficult, even scandalous film, but one which pushes the boundaries of the medium to their breaking point. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
Tom Bell - Antonio; Kenneth Cranham - Sebastian; Mark Rylance - Ferdinand; Gerard Thoolen - Adrian; Pierre Bokma - Francisco; Jim Van Der Woude - Trinculo; Michiel Romeyn - Stephano; Orpheo - Ariel; Paul Russell - Ariel; James Thierree - Ariel; Emil Wolk - Ariel; Marie Angel - Iris; Deborah Conway - Juno; Ute Lemper - Cory; Kris Niklison
Credit
Michael Clark - Choreography, Philippe Carcassonne - Co-producer, Michel Seydoux - Co-producer, Dien van Straalen - Costume Designer, Emi Wada - Costume Designer, Peter Greenaway - Director, Marina Rodbyl - Editor, Michael Nyman - Composer (Music Score), Jan Roelfs - Production Designer, Ben Van Os - Production Designer, Sacha Vierny - Cinematographer, Masato Hara - Producer, Kees Kasander - Producer, Katsufumi Nakamura - Producer, Yoshinobu Namano - Producer, Denis Wigman - Producer, Roland Wigman - Producer, Peter Greenaway - Screenwriter, William Shakespeare - Play Author
Michael Nyman has written many fine soundtracks for Peter Greenaway films, but his music for the British director's cinematic version of Shakespeare's The Tempest (titled Prospero's Books) ranks as one of his best. A third of the program consists of elegiac vocal pieces, which feature Sarah Leonard's beautifully soaring, "boy soprano" voice (the inclusion of vocals was accidental, as Nyman textually mistook the play's locale to be island of voices instead of an "isle of noises" -- a fortuitous oversight considering the charm of these pieces). The remainder of the program consists of instrumentals, equally divided between sweeping string numbers and jauntily robotic, horn-driven pieces. Nyman enlists the talents of the Balanescu Quartet (who have also recorded Nyman's first three string quartets) and tenor saxophonist John Harle to form the core of his excellent 22-piece band. The group admirably deliver Nyman's neo-romantic, minimalist score with the necessary mix of passion and restraint. Highlights include the instrumentals "Caliban's Pit" and "Cornfield" and the magisterial vocal piece "Where the Bee Sucks." The CD also includes a non-soundtrack vocal number titled "The Masque," which features Leonard and Ute Lemper among other vocalists. An excellent recording of some of Nyman's best work. ~ Stephen Cook, All Music Guide
Michael Nyman (Piano), Michael Nyman (Main Performer), Michael Nyman (Musical Director), John Harle (Sax (Alto)), John Harle (Sax (Soprano)), David Roach (Sax (Alto)), David Roach (Sax (Soprano)), Ute Lemper (Performer), Ute Lemper (?), Graham Ashton (Trumpet), Alexander Balanescu (Violin), Clare Connors (Violin), David Cunningham (Producer), Michael J. Dutton (Engineer), Andrew Findon (Flute), Andrew Findon (Piccolo), Andrew Findon (Sax (Baritone)), Andrew Findon (Sax (Tenor)), Tony Hinnigan (Cello), Peter Mew (Editing), Kate Musker (Viola), Elisabeth Perry (Violin), David Rix (Clarinet), David Rix (Clarinet (Bass)), Steve Saunders (Trombone (Bass)), Jamie Talbot (Sax (Alto)), Jamie Talbot (Sax (Soprano)), Tim Amhurst (Double Bass), Nigel Barr (Trombone (Bass)), Marjorie Dunn (Horn), Paul Morgan (Double Bass), Richard Clews (Horn), Justin Pearson (Cello), Ann Bradbeer (Art Direction), Dillon Gallagher (Assistant Engineer), Jonathan Carney (Violin), Sarah Leonard (Performer), Sarah Leonard (?), Malcolm Heywood (Photography), Lynda Houghton (Double Bass), Deborah Conway (Performer), Deborah Conway (?), Marie Angel (Performer), Marie Angel (?), Chris Brown (Assistant Engineer)
Prospero's Books (1991), written and directed by Peter Greenaway, is a cinematic adaptation of The Tempest, by William Shakespeare. John Gielgud is Prospero, the protagonist who provides the off-screen narration and the voices to the other story characters. Stylistically, Prospero's Books is narratively and cinematically innovative in its techniques, combining mime, dance, opera, and animation. Edited in Japan, the film makes extensive (and pioneering) use of digital image manipulation (using Hi-Vision video inserts and the Paintbox system), often overlaying multiple moving and still pictures with animations. Michael Nyman composed the musical score and Karine Saporta choreographed the dance. The film is also notable for its extensive use of nudity, displayed with a naturist ethos in keeping with the work's key themes. (i.e. The nude actors and extras represent a realistic cross-section of male and female humanity.)
The daughter of Prospero, an exiled magician, falls in love with the son of his enemy, while the sorcerer's sprite, Ariel, convinces him to abandon revenge against the traitors from his earlier life. In the film, Prospero stands in for Shakespeare, and is seen writing and speaking the story's action as it unfolds. Prospero's Books is a complex tale based upon William Shakespeare's The Tempest.
Ariel is played by three actors — a boy, an adolescent, and a youth. Each represents a classical elemental. The boy represents water, and is shown perpetually urinating. Conservative movie critic Michael Medved attacked the scene of Ariel urinating from a swing in "The Urge to Offend" chapter of his book Hollywood vs. America.
Director Peter Greenaway and composer Michael Nyman acrimoniously ended their longstanding work relationship while making Prospero's Books. Most of the film's music cues, (excepting Ariel's songs and the Masque) are from an earlier concert, La Traversée de Paris and the score from A Zed & Two Noughts. The soundtrack album is Nyman's sixteenth release.
