Satantango (Artificial Eye & Facets)

[denti alligator]

It's mentioned earlier in this thread: 1.66:1 (approximately)

[AK]

Actually, from now on, all of Béla Tarr's film transfers on DVD are personally supervised by Béla Tarr himself AND produced in Hungary.

The first films to be thus released will be DAMNATION and SATANTANGO and both films should have optional English, French, German and Dutch subtitles.

The DVDs will be distributed by Artificial Eye indeed in the UK but also in France, Germany and The Netherlands. And I think there was some interest from one or two US distributors as well!

The only flipside of the coin is that no special features will be available as far as I know -the 'simple' task of restoring and remastering (and even relighting) alone according to Tarr's requests being tremendous already!

I hold these information from Mokep, the Hungarian seller of Béla Tarr's films: http://www.mokep.hu/

How do you do. Thanks for the information. I have been a little dubious about Artificial Eye releasing Sátántangó, but am very glad that Tarr is supervising the transfer. As far as special features go, I have always been content with a good transfer, so am not in need of anything else.

This is among my favourite films of all-time, so I'm definitely purchasing this. I own a bootleg that is taken straight from video, so am in dire need of upgrading. And I suppose that Criterion would be in want to release this?

And another thing: does anyone have any information if Tarr has already been working on the restoration? I ask this because he is now busy working on his A Londoni férfi, which, according to an interview I cannot seem to be able to track down (I think it is with the cinematographer), is supposed to be filming throughout the year, then editing it to be ready for Cannes 2007. If the restoration, that will be supervised by Tarr, hasn't already begun and advancing steadily, I can't see this film being released so soon as by the first half of 2006. Of course, nothing would make me happier than in fact finding this from my doorstep by the end of the summer.

[JanPB]

Has anyone here read the novels that Satantango and Werckmeister Harmonies are based on (though I think only one has been translated into English)?

I've read Satantango in the Polish translation which came out in 2004. The film follows the novel extremely closely. Its length is obviously one reason this was possible. There are two exceptions: in the book Irimias and Petrina witness a bizarre vision in the fog on their way through the woods, and the other change is the ending (which is better in the film IMHO).

I tried to understand the temporal structure of the book but it's quite convoluted, it's definitely not what the reviews keep repeating: "6 steps forward, 6 steps back".

[denti alligator]

There are two exceptions: in the book Irimias and Petrina witness a bizarre vision in the fog on their way through the woods

This is in the film, isn't it? I mean, there's no vision actually shown, but they certainly seem to see something.[/i]

[John Cope]

Well, this has always been a point of contention. That scene is in the movie, yes, and seems to me to be critically important. However, it is filmed and handled in such a way as to keep Tarr's intentions appropriately ambiguous. Most viewers and critics seem to read this moment as a kind of confirmation of or emphasis on the duplicity of Irimias. I see it as much less distinct than that.

The scene occurs after the death of the little girl and her memorial service. Irimias and Petrina and their young friend (the brother of the girl if memory serves) are on their way out of town and pass the ruined building which is where we saw the girl lie down to die. Irimias falls to his knees before this site as the mist clears to reveal it. His reaction is shown to be seemingly sincere, moved and mystified. It is Petrina (whose face we never see) who breaks the spell and the mood through a caustic barb--something to the effect of, "What, you've never seen mist before?" This has the fascinating effect of turning the scene into a critique of Irimias, letting the air out of a balloon we have long since labeled as pretentious and comfortably dismissed as disreputable. It may be that a desire to embrace this reading says more about the desire to formulate a precise, untroubled interpretation than it does anything else.

What most seem to forget is that this is the place the girl died, and Tarr even shoots the reveal in the same way as the establishing shot earlier. I think the fact that the linking moment, which is that image, is several hours apart functions to make the power of the association less direct and less overtly insistent. We also know that Irimias is a "false prophet"--much of the material in between has demonstrated that. However, I would suggest that Tarr is far too wise to allow any element of his narrative to be that easily reducible. After all, his vision is very much of a chaotic world that sees itself as abandoned by God but is most certainly never abandoned by Tarr. His patient, gliding camera recognizes all the decrepitude whilst registering greater associative meanings and metaphysical resonance.

[JanPB]

There are two exceptions: in the book Irimias and Petrina witness a bizarre vision in the fog on their way through the woods

This is in the film, isn't it? I mean, there's no vision actually shown, but they certainly seem to see something.[/i]

Well, this has always been a point of contention. That scene is in the movie, yes, and seems to me to be critically important. However, it is filmed and handled in such a way as to keep Tarr's intentions appropriately ambiguous.

Here is the corresponding fragment from the book. Note the odd, cramped, layout of the text (the non-indented dialogue) is intentional. I tried to make the paragraph narrower by double quoting it. This is a translation of a translation so it's probably not that great. The Polish text I used is oddly unidiomatic in places, awkward, sometimes it's not clear who says what. It seems to be the author's intent but it would be interesting to ask a Hungarian speaker.

The "punk" referred to in the fragment is Sanyi — Estike's (the little girl) older brother.

The chapters in the book in fact are numbered in the "6 forwards, 6 backwards" style: Part 1 has chapters I through VI and Part 2 chapters VI through I. The fragment below is from Part 2, Chapter IV titled To go to heaven? To dream? It's between Chapter V, Perspective, when from the front and Chapter III, Perspective, when from behind (even the chapter titles are awkwardly odd).

"When I was your age I wouldn't dare to make a peep when adults were present! I was quiet as a tomb! There were no excuses in those days! Not what we have today! But what do you kn...", he stopped suddenly. "What's this?" "What?" "This... noise..." "I can't hear anything", the "punk" answered. "What do you mean you can't hear? Can you hear it now?" They listened holding their breaths, Irimiás froze motionless a few steps ahead of them. They stood near the intersection with the road to Póstelek, the rain was drizzling silently, there was not a soul anywhere except for a flock of crows circling far in the distance. Petrina imagined he heard something above, he pointed silently to the sky but Irimiás shook his head. "From there, more likely...", he pointed in the direction of the town. "A car?..." "I don't know", the master answered uneasily. They stood motionless. The noise wasn't changing. "Maybe it's an airplane...", the "punk" finally said, hesitantly. "No, I don't think so...", said Irimiás. "Anyway... let's take the shorter route. If we walk to Póstelek we'll first reach the Weinkheim palace and then continue along the old road. That way we'll gain four hours, perhaps even five..." "Do you know how muddy that is?", countered Petrina. "Yes, I know. But I don't like it here. It's better to take the other road. We certainly won't run into anyone there." "What do you mean?" "How would I know? Let's go." They left the road and started walking toward Póstelek. Petrina kept glancing around, nervously eyeing the surroundings but couldn't see anything. But now he could swear he could hear some noises coming from above. "That's not an airplane... It's like a church organ... Oh, what nonsense." He paused, bent down, leaned on his hand and put his ear to the ground. "No, certainly not. It's crazy." But the humming wouldn't stop. It moved neither closer nor farther away. He was trying to remember but the sound didn't remind him of anything. Neither car noise, nor airplane sound, nor a thunder... He felt apprehension. He turned his head anxiously sniffing danger everywhere, in the bushes, in the dwarfish trees, in the overgrown ditches. What was most frightening was that he could not tell if this... something was far or near... He turned his suspicions on the "punk". "Hey, you! You ate something today? Is it your belly rumbling?" "Don't be stupid, Petrina!", Irimiás snapped turning back. "And move your legs!" They were already three or four hundred metres past the intersection when in the midst of the frightful incessant hum they noticed something peculiar. Petrina noticed it first, he couldn't utter a word and only stammered something in fear and watched the sky with his bulging eyes. To their right, perhaps fifteen or twenty metres above the mud-covered lifeless ground a gently flowing white veil was slowly, majestically falling down. They barely had time to recover when in their torpor they saw that this "something like a veil" was suddenly dissolving into nothingness at the point it touched the ground. "Somebody pinch me!" Petrina groaned and shook his head in disbelief. The "punk" stood agape but when he noticed neither Irimiás nor Petrina were going to say anything, he added confidently: "Well, what's this about, never seen fog before?" "You call this fog?!", Petrina screamed angrily. "Don't talk nonsense! I bet it... is... a wedding veil... Master, I have bad feelings about this..." Irimiás kept looking helplessly at the spot where the veil fell a moment ago. "Don't be silly. Petrina, get your butt in gear and say something." "Look, over there!", the "punk" screamed. And he pointed at another veil falling down not far from the previous one. They watched spellbound as it was falling to the ground and — as if it was in fact made of fog — dissolved into nothingness... "Let's leave this place, master!", Petrina advised in a shaking voice. "I have this feeling manna from heaven is going to fall any minute now..." "There must be an explanation!", Irimiás said decisively. "I wish I knew what it was!... It's impossible all three of us have lost our minds." "If only Mrs. Halics was here!", the "punk" laughed. "She'd tell us what it was!" Irimiás raised his head. "I beg your pardon." They fell silent. The "punk" felt embarrassed and lowered his eyes. "I was just saying..." "You know anything about this?", the scared Petrina asked. "Me?", the other one laughed. "How would I know? It just came out stupidly..." They walked on without a word and it occurred to Irimiás and Petrina that perhaps it would be better to turn back; but neither could make the decision as neither was sure if the return wouldn't be equally risky... They walked faster, now even Petrina didn't protest, if it was up to him they would've been running already, without stopping until they reached the town; so when they saw the abandoned Weinkheim palace at long last and Irimiás declared a short rest ("My leg has completely fallen asleep... We'll get a fire going, we'll eat something, get dry and then we'll continue..."), he screamed in despair: "Oh no, not this! You don't think I could stay put now, non even for an instant! After all that?" "Stop peeing all over yourself", Irimiás cut him off. "Point is we are all exhausted. We haven't slept for almost two days. We must rest. We have a long way ahead of us." "Well, fine. But you are going first!", Petrina demanded and gathering his courage he walked at ten paces behind them; his heart was in his throat and he didn't even feel like responding to jeers of the "punk" who, having noticed Irimiás' calm, collected himself somewhat and attempted to show him respect for his courage... He waited until the two turned into the path leading to the palace and carefully, looking all around, he followed them but when he faced the front side of the palace ruins his legs turned woolly and although he knew Irimiás was hiding behind the bushes, he was unable to make a step. From somewhere — could it be from the palace? or from the sunburnt, rain-drenched park? — he heard a cheerful pearly laughter. "I'm going to loose my mind, I know it". He was sweating all over from fear. "Dammit! What have we gotten ourselves into?" He held his breath and straining his muscles almost to the point of pain he crawled on his side behind the bushes. The laughter got louder, some cheerful party probably having a good time in this place deserted by all, in rain, cold, and wind... And then that laughter... sounded very odd... He felt cold on his back. He jumped out onto the path and, deciding this was the right moment, ran forward, grasped Irimiás as if he was a soldier in battle when enemy fire is everywhere and one is risking life jumping from one trench to the next. "My friend", he whispered in a choked voice and moved closer to the kneeling Irimiás, "What is happening around here?!" "I can't see anything", the other one said, composed, calmly and quietly, his gaze fixed on the palace park. "But we'll find out soon." "No!", Petrina groaned, "Better let's not find out!" "Someone is having fun there...", the "punk" said, annoyed and losing his patience because he couldn't wait for the master to give him a task to perform. "Here?!", moaned Petrina, "In this rain? In this middle of nowhere?... Master, let's get out of here while there is still time!..." "Shut up, I can't hear anything!" "But I can! I can! That's why I'm saying we must..." "Silence!", Irimiás screamed. In the park where oaks, walnuts, boxwood, and flowerbeds were being swallowed by weeds, nothing was moving. Irimiás — from his spot he could see only a small fragment of the park — decided to walk carefully a bit further; he grabbed Petrina, still waving his arms to and fro, by the shoulder and slowly dragged him to the main entrance where they turned right and then continued to creep slowly on their tiptoes. Irimiás was leading and when he reached the corner, he carefully glanced towards the back of the park; for a moment he was motionless, then he quickly turned his head. "What's this?!", Petrina whispered, "We're running away, yes?" "You see this shed?", Irimiás asked in a choked voice pointing towards a ruined building in front of them. "Quickly. One after the other. I'm going first. Then you, Petrina. And the «punk» goes last. Clear?" And he darted toward the small summer house. "I don't want to!", mumbled Petrina, his eyes bulging with fear. "That's at least twenty metres! They'll poke holes through us like a sieve!" "Let's go!", the "punk" brutally pushed him and the surprised Petrina lost his balance and fell straight into the mud. He stood up quickly but then immediately fell down to the ground again and joined his companion in front of the summer house by crawling like a snake. He couldn't even look up from fear, he covered his eyes with his hands and kept lying still, and only when he understood that thanks to "the grace of the Lord" he was still alive, he gathered his courage, stood up and peered outside through a slit. But his shattered nerves could not bear the view spreading in front of him. "Lie down!", he screamed and threw himself to the ground. "Stop yelling, you cretin!", Irimiás roared at him, "I hear one more sound from you and I'll break your neck!" At the back of the park, on the little meadow in front of the three powerful oaks... a small body was lying... wrapped in a translucent white veil. They were about thirty metres away where the body was not obscured by the veil, they could even make out the facial features; and if all three didn't consider it impossible, if they hadn't with their own hands put the body into the primitve coffin which was slapped together by Kráner, they would have sworn that this was the body of "punk"'s sister, the waxy white face, the curls of the red hair, as if she was asleep... The veil was moving in the wind, the rain was silently washing the corpse, and the three oaks were creaking as if ready to fall over... There was no soul around... only that sweet pearly laughter everywhere, a carefree chuckle, a happy melody of cheerful joyful sounds... Paralysed with fear, the "punk" looked at the meadow, one couldn't tell what he was more afraid of, the sight of his sister's muddy corpse frozen is a deathly spasm, now bright, clear, and frighteningly calm, or that she would suddenly move, stand up and walk over to him; his legs quivered, he felt he was losing consciousness, the darkness enveloped the park, the trees, the palace, the sky, only her lying in the middle of the small meadow, glowing more and more distinctly, more and more painfully. In the sudden silence, in total wordlessness in which even the raindrops fell soundlessly to the ground, it seemed they suddenly went deaf, they felt but couldn't hear either the wind noise or the strange warm current swimming around them, yet he heard the neverending hum and melodious laughter turning into frightening moans and groans, he felt they were coming for him already, he put hands over his eyes and burst into tears. "Can you see this?", the petrified Irimiás whispered and squeezed Petrina's shoulder until his fingers turned white. Above the corpse the wind began to rage and in the boundless silence the blindingly white corpse rose into the air gently... and only upon reaching the treetops it suddenly trembled and began to fall, fluttering slightly, until it landed in the middle of the meadow. The voices which until now were disembodied have turned into a wild lament like a choir dissatisfied with the performance and suffering defeat though not through their fault. "Can you believe this?" "I'm trying", Irimiás said, white as a sheet. "How long has it been? The child has been dead for two days." "Petrina, I think for the first time in my life I'm afraid." "May I ask something?" "Ask." "Do you think?..." "Do I think?" "Do you think... hm... hell exists?..." Irimiás swallowed hard. "Who knows. Perhaps." Silence suddenly fell. Only the noise seemed louder. The corpse rose up again, at about two metres above the ground it shook and with incredible speed it soared upwards and disappeared into the motionless leaden clouds. The wind was blowing in the park, the oaks and the old rickety house were shaking, they heard girls' voices victoriously over their heads and slowly dying away leaving nothing behind except a few floating pieces of veil, the racket of the tiles on the decaying palace roof, the broken tin rainpipes hitting the wall... For several long minutes they looked at the meadow but nothing was happening and they finally calmed down. "Looks like it's all over", Irimiás said and let out a mighty hiccup. "I hope so", Petrina whispered, "Let's revive the «punk»".

As they continue walking Petrina says he is a "protester" and Irimiás corrects him: "protestant", and mentions he wasn't christened.

[godardslave]

might i kindly suggest you break that very long quote up into small paragraphs.

[JanPB]

might i kindly suggest you break that very long quote up into small paragraphs.

That's the way it's in the original, the whole book looks like this except for a few paragraph breaks. I wish there was an easy way to make the text as narrow as in the book which would make reading easy...

One more comment regarding the second noticeable difference: the ending.

Spoiler

The doctor pulls out his notebooks and after several false attempts he finally begins to write "carefully, so as not to damage the paper":

On a late November morning, just before first drops of the mercilessly long autumn rains fell onto the parched salty soil in the western part of the village (soon the sea of stinking mud will make it impossible to use the nearby roads leading to town until the cold weather arrives to freeze it), Futaki was woken up by the sound of bells. Eight kilometres southwest, on the former Hochmeiss lands, there was in fact a small chapel but its bell was gone and the bell tower had crumbled already during the war, and the town was anyway too far for him to hear any sounds. Besides, the ringing of the bells, carried by the wind, unceasing, victorious, seemed quite near ("As if by the mill...") and didn't sound distant at all.

...etc. etc. — and this is exactly how the book BEGINS. Doctor's writing continues for a couple of pages (still following the opening exactly) and it breaks off in the middle of a sentence.

As far as small differences go: the crazy old man ringing the bell yells (IIRC) "The Turks are coming!" in the film. In the book he yells "HIM!" and "THEM!"

[John Cope]

Thanks for posting these excerpts, Jan. The ending sounds similar enough to the finished film though Tarr obviously chooses to articulate these same ideas more visually (with the Doctor slowly shuttering us in with him while we hear the lines in voice over). The other excerpt, however, is very different from the scene described earlier. I get the sense that Tarr chose perhaps to go a more superficially "realistic" route in order to make his ultimate point more vast in implication and less prone to reductive interpretation. Of course, as stated already, this has not necessarily been the ultimate result.

[MichaelB]

I doubt this is going to be much use for anyone reading this, but Satantango is having another big-screen outing at this year's Sarajevo Film Festival in just under a fortnight's time.

(Gallingly, although I will be there, I have to fly home for family reasons the day before, after previously missing the NFT showing in London because of a direct clash with my brother's wedding!)

[toiletduck!]

I doubt this is going to be much use for anyone reading this, but Satantango is having another big-screen outing at this year's Sarajevo Film Festival in just under a fortnight's time.

And if Sarajevo's out of the question, there was mention of it coming to the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago in (I believe) November...

-Toilet Dcuk

[spencerw]

I see the Benson's World website says the Artificial Eye DVD of Satantango will be released on 13th November 2006

[alfons416]

speaking of tarr and OARs, does anyone know the proper Aspect Ratio on Almanac of Fall?

[JanPB]

I see the Benson's World website says the Artificial Eye DVD of Satantango will be released on 13th November 2006

Looks like that's the one to get. The Facets release is a PAL-to-NTSC video transfer anyway (ghosting!). Bensons have it listed under "Horror/Occult"

[FilmFanSea]

An interesting price comparison for the two upcoming Sátántangó releases:

Facets: SRP $79.95 [DVD Empire price $46.49]

Artificial Eye: £29.99 = $56.76 [Play.com price £23.99 = $45.40]

Granted, for R1 buyers, the Facets' release will be more heavily discounted than the AE but, in the end, the actual purchase prices will be quite similar. Since the AE should be of higher quality, no one will be forced to purchase the Facets on purely economic grounds.

[toiletduck!]

And if Sarajevo's out of the question, there was mention of it coming to the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago in (I believe) November...

Yeah, I'm quoting myself, deal with it...

More exciting Siskel Center tidbits! Keep in mind, this is entirely through the grapevine and I have no authoritative sources, but rumour has it that, partially due to Rosenbaum's urging, the Film Center is also considering showing Tarr's other work and is even looking at the possibility of having him fly in to Chicago for a couple of screenings!

-Toilet Dcuk

[tavernier]

Latest Facets press release:

Satantango release re-scheduled for November 28.

The new street date for Satantango will be November 28, 2006.

The Facets edition of Satantango is based on a new digital master personally supervised and approved by Bela Tarr, with new and improved subtitles. It is also a complete version which is almost 2 minutes longer than previous editions.

The November 28 release will also be preceded by a national theatrical tour of Satantango, which begins at Facets and tours six other American cities.

At the Facets Cinémathèque, 1517 West Fullerton, Chicago, IL.
Show times: Saturdays, Sept. 23 & Oct. 1 at 1:00 p.m.


SATANTANGO WILL ALSO BE SHOWN AT THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS IN THE USA:

At noon on Saturday, October 8 at the Wexner Center for the Arts, 1871 North High Street, Columbus, Ohio.

On Saturday, October 21 at the University of Wisconsin Cinematheque, 6038 Vilas Hall, 821 University Ave, Madison, Wisconsin.

On Sunday, October 29 and Wednesday and Thursday, November 1 and 2 at Cinema Arts Centre, 423 Park Ave, Huntington, New York.

At 2 p.m. on Sunday, November 19 at George Eastman House, 900 East Avenue, Rochester, New York.

On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, December 7-9 at NW Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave, Seattle, Washington. (NW Film Forum will also screen Damnation Dec. 1-3 and Werkmeister Harmonies Dec. 14-16).

On November 28, Facets will release Satantango on DVD as a three disc set. After you see the film in the theater you can add it to your collection.

[Barmy]

I wonder if it is almost 2 minutes longer because it was transferred at the wrong speed.

[toiletduck!]

Cutthroat, Facets, cutthroat!

Official dates for the Siskel Film Center (which Facets conveniently fails to mention) are November 10-12

-Toilet Dcuk

[tavernier]

I wonder if it is almost 2 minutes longer because it was transferred at the wrong speed.

Nah, that couldn't be it....Tarr personally supervised the transfer, and we know that Facets never gets these things wrong.

[godardslave]

I'm totally convinced that those extra 2 minutes make all the difference compared to the other 450.

[Barmy]

Are they showing the version intégrale in the theatrical release? I shall not rest until I have seen those almost two minutes on the big screen.

[tavernier]

It's 2 minutes of outtakes over the end credits, a la Reynolds-Needham epics...different takes of the girl cracking up while torturing the cat.

[Matt]

August 23, 2006

Please be advised of the following change in release date for SATANTANGO, the long-awaited masterpiece from internationaly acclaimed filmmaker BELA TARR.

DV86935
736899091125
$79.95
Original Order Date: September 5, 2006
NEW ORDER DATE: NOVEMBER 7, 2006
Original Release Date: September 26, 2006
NEW RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 28, 2006

80 bucks. Un-fucking-believable.

[Barmy]

But you get almost two more minutes!