The Turin Horse

 

Directed by Bela Tarr and Agnes Hranitzky and written by Tarr and Laszlo Krasznahorski, A torinoi lo (The Turin Horse) is the story of the aftermath of an event in which a horse being whipped in Turin as it is rumored to be the cause of Friedrich Nietzsche’s mental breakdown. The film is an unconventional drama that plays into the effects of a horse being abused as a farmer and his daughter deal with its consequences as well as being possibly involved in Nietzsche’s mental breakdown. Starring Janos Derzsi, Erika Bok, Mihaly Kormos, and narration by Mihaly Raday. A torinoi lo is a rapturous and haunting film from Bela Tarr and Agnes Hranitzky.

On January 3, 1889 in Turin, Italy, Friedrich Nietzsche would have a mental breakdown as he tried to calm down a horse being whipped by the carriage driver leading to a period of health issues that would plague for the next eleven years until his death. The film is about the carriage driver who whipped the horse following this incident as it is told in the span of six days in which he and his daughter endure a period of isolation in their desolate home as they cope with heavy winds, a horse that refuses to eat, and events that play into their state of despair. The film’s screenplay by Bela Tarr and Laszlo Krasznahorski is largely straightforward though it opens with narration in black about what happened to Nietzsche as it would then cut to the man who was meant to be Nietzsche’s carriage driver in Ohlsdorger (Janos Derzsi) who is taking his horse home through the Great Hungarian Plain as he deals with heavy winds and dust wind upon arriving home.

For the six next days, Ohlsdorger and his daughter (Erika Bok) live in a stone hut doing the same daily routines while checking on a horse that refuses to eat as they also eat the same meals and look out the window. On the first day, the daughter wakes up to get water from a well to boil the potatoes as well as tend to the fire and help her father get dressed as it is part of a daily routine where they also check on the horse. The second day would be much of the same except they get a visitor in Bernhard (Mihaly Kormos) who makes claims about the nearby town being destroyed as it would play into this sense of dread where Ohlsdorger and his daughter get a visit from gypsies the next day as it would lead to all sorts of trouble.

Tarr’s direction is definitely stylish in its own way as it consists of 30 shots for a film with a 156-minute running time with shots averaging up to 5 minutes as it is shot on a valley in Hungary. The film wouldn’t have any dialogue for the first 22 minutes other than Mihaly Raday’s narration as it plays into the events leading up to the film as well as commentary on the events around the protagonists including a book that the daughter reads upon her encounter with the gypsies. There are some close-ups and medium shots that occur throughout the film but Tarr and co-director/editor Agnes Hranitzky would often utilize wide shots as well as these gazing images that would linger onto something for more than a few minutes. There would also be these intricate tracking shots including some Steadicam shots such as the daughter opening the front door with a couple of pails to get water from the well as the camera would follow them. There is also this sense of repetition in how a daily routine would begin as Tarr and Hranitzky would shoot the same routines but would then place the cameras in a different position to get a different perspective as it adds a unique feel to the way a day is portrayed.

With Hranitzky providing some straightforward cutting as well as some unique fade-to-black transitions for a few moments, Tarr would also play into this idea that a world is ending as he would include text written by Krasznahorski as it plays into the philosophies of Nietzsche. It adds to the bleak tone of the film as the fifth day would be this key moment late in the film as it plays into the sense of despair but also uncertainty into a world that these two people don’t know at all. Especially as the aftermath of all of that showcases this sense of accepting whatever fate they have to endure as well as the fate of the horse that was affected by this incident involving Nietzsche. Overall, Tarr and Hranitzky craft a somber yet harrowing film about a horse carriage driver and their daughter dealing with their surroundings following an incident that played into Friedrich Nietzsche’s mental breakdown.

Cinematographer Fred Keleman does brilliant work with the film’s black-and-white photography with its stark imagery in many of its daytime exteriors to the usage of natural lighting and lanterns for many of the interior scenes in the day and night as it is a highlight of the film. Production designer Laszlo Rajk does excellent work with the look of the home that Ohlsdorger and his daughter live in as well as the small house for their horse to live in. Sound editor/mixer Gabor Erdelyi does incredible work with the films’ sound in the way the wind sounds in all of its intensity in the exterior scenes as well as some sparse sounds from the inside as it is a highlight of the film. The film’s music by Mihaly Vig is amazing for its somber string-based score that only appears in certain parts of the film as it plays into the sense of dread and despair.

The film’s ensemble cast is largely small other than a group of uncredited extras as Romani gypsies that stop at Ohlsdorger’s water well as well as Mihaly Kormos as their neighbor Bernhard who asks for brandy as well as what is happening nearby and the horse Ricsi as the horse who refuses to eat while pondering its own existence. Erika Bok is fantastic as the daughter who would cook and grab water while also pondering her own existence as she is quiet yet riveting in the way she sees things as well as the sense of despair around her. Finally, there’s Janos Derzsi as Ohlsdorger as the horse carriage driver who copes with what happened as well as the world around him as he is unsure of what to do while also realizing that his place in the world might come to an end.

A torinoi lo is a tremendous film from Bela Tarr and Agnes Hranitzky. While it is not an easy film to watch due to its lack of a strong plot, slow pacing with not much dialogue occurring throughout the film, and its bleak tone. It is still an entrancing watch in how it explores two people dealing with their place in a world that is changing and with them not being part of it as well as coping with an incident that played into Friedrich Nietzsche’s mental breakdown. If this is truly the final film from Bela Tarr, then he goes out with an outstanding statement. In the end, A torinoi lo is a magnificent film from Bela Tarr and Agnes Hranitzky.

Bela Tarr Films: (Family Nest) – (The Outsider (1981 film)) – (The Prefab People) – (Macbeth (1982 TV film)) – (Almanac of Fall) – (Damnation) – Satantango - Werckmeister Harmonies - (The Man from London)

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