LE
GRAND SILENCE
INTO GREAT SILENCE |
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Director: Philip Gröning
Screenplay: Philip Gröning
Awards:
Special Jury Prize, Sundance Film Festival (2006)
Best Documentary Award, European Film Award (2006)
Best Documentary, Bavarian Film Award (2006)
Running time: 169’
Production: France, Switzerland, Germany, 2005
Rating: Not Rated
Gauge: 35mm, DVD (color)
Genre: Documentary
Distributor: Zeitgeist Films
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"The
psychology and philosophy of asceticism are not Mr. Gröning's
concern. He is after something more elusive and, from
an aesthetic as well as an intellectual point of view,
more valuable: a point of contact with the spiritual content
of intense religious commitment. He finds it by means
of a visual style and an editing scheme that match the
feeling and structure of the days and seasons as they
pass through the charterhouse".
A. O. Scott, The New York Times |
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Nestled deep
in the postcard-perfect French Alps, the Grande Chartreuse
is considered one of the world’s most ascetic monasteries.
In 1984, German filmmaker Philip Gröning wrote to the
Carthusian order for permission to make a documentary about
them. They said they would get back to him. Sixteen years
later, they were ready. Gröning, without crew or artificial
lighting, lived in the monks’ quarters for six months,filming
their daily prayers, tasks, rituals and rare outdoor excursions.
This transcendent, closely observed film seeks to embody a
monastery, rather than simply depict one. It has no score,
no voiceover and no archival footage. What remains is stunningly
elemental: time, space and light. One of the most mesmerizing
and poetic chronicles of spirituality ever created, Into Great
Silence dissolves the border between screen and audience
with a total immersion into the hush of monastic life. More
meditation than documentary, it’s a rare, transformative
theatrical experience.
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| PHOTO Zeitgeist
Films |
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