PostED ON 21.10.2022

Everything you need to know about the most famous film of the German genius.

Another documentary on ‘Metropolis’? It should be noted that the history of Fritz Lang's film is a rocky one, from its conception to its recent exhumation in a print that is finally close to the original, as seen by Berlin audiences in 1927. Claudia Collao's documentary is invaluable due to its exhaustive nature. It traces the early career of Fritz Lang, recalls his penchant for spectacular and innovative cinema, and rightly emphasises the affectionate and professional collaboration between the filmmaker and Thea von Harbou, a successful screenwriter who ended up in league with the Nazis (although she remarried Indian Ayi Tendulkar, not very ‘Aryan’).

At the heart of the documentary is a revealing and enlightening confrontation between French and American cinephilia: Bernard Eisenchitz, a great French specialist of Lang, underlines the artistic vision of the filmmaker, the graphic power of ‘Metropolis’, the experimental aspect of the special effects; Patrick McGilligan, Lang's American biographer, is more interested in the troubled personality of the filmmaker, haunted by the death of his first wife, which may have indirectly triggered his sadistic tyrannical behaviour on set. The combination of these two points of view results in a well-rounded look in this undertaking by Claudia Collao of the gigantic masterpiece, a futuristic tale with a somewhat ambiguous ideology, a visual tour de force that influenced an entire era of modern cinema.

After the lacklustre reception by the public, ‘Metropolis’ became an unpleasant memory for Lang and an example of a movie mutilated by its distributors. Restorations succeeded one another, although always incomplete, until the unexpected discovery, in Buenos Aires, of 16-millimetre reels finally containing the missing scenes (unfortunately highly visually deteriorated). Rich in testimonies and archival images, this documentary makes you want to rush out to see the most recent version of Lang's masterpiece to finally appreciate it at its true worth.

Fritz Lang on the set of Metropolis from Europa Maudits: Metropolis © Photofest

 A.F.

Screening:

Europa Maudits : Metropolis by Claudia Collao (2022, 52min)

Villa Lumière Fri. 21 2:15pm