Metropolis

en
00:00:21 More than a quarter of the film
00:00:28 Few other films have been so
00:00:32 corrupted as this one. Shots and titles
00:00:44 However, of no other such mistreated film
00:00:48 what the film originally looked like.
00:01:02 Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou,
00:01:06 Just like their film.
00:01:22 The novel: Thea von Harbou's film
00:01:42 At this point, the music started
00:01:46 The Metropolis theme.
00:01:50 A fanfare motif...
00:01:53 the orchestra follows...
00:01:56 a column of sound emerges.
00:02:05 Thea von Harbou's message,
00:02:08 He said: "I am fascinated by machines."
00:02:15 Metropolis, the mother city,
00:02:31 The city, the film...
00:02:36 Flywheels,
00:02:38 a crankshaft,
00:02:41 an eccentric disk,
00:02:44 A machine without Workers,
00:02:48 pure movement...
00:02:52 a machine of desire. Round shapes
00:02:56 within the image of two clocks.
00:03:03 One 12-hour and one 10-hour clock.
00:03:16 Day shift and night shift, 10 hours each,
00:03:22 Two groups of Workers,
00:03:26 march in unison,
00:03:31 "They moved their feet,
00:03:37 The way people move or are moved
00:03:41 throughout the film.
00:03:50 The Workers' theme - a funeral march.
00:04:11 The night shift enters a cage...
00:04:15 the grate is raised,
00:04:18 the cage sinks, and with it the camera.
00:04:28 A title picks up the movement.
00:04:33 "Even the titles", the young Luis Buñuel
00:04:37 "how they rise and fall,
00:04:41 become pictures themselves."
00:04:45 The title's movement is carried through
00:04:49 The Workers: Now just a painted
00:04:53 the design of the
00:04:58 Elevators transport the Workers
00:05:02 and their living quarters.
00:05:06 The Theme of the City of the Workers.
00:05:21 The main square of the Workers' City.
00:05:25 returning to their quarters.
00:05:29 again a kind of alarm clock.
00:05:44 The downward scroll of the title
00:05:48 equilateral triangle pointing skywards.
00:06:02 The Sports stadium,
00:06:04 the contrast is stark between
00:06:08 and the cramped City of the Workers -
00:06:12 the liberated and carefree movements
00:06:16 and the dull lethargy
00:06:20 and the self-determined horizontal
00:06:24 of the Workers in the lift.
00:06:38 A light-hearted waltz,
00:06:42 accompanies this scene.
00:06:45 columns like stalactites,
00:06:50 Orient-inspired head adornments.
00:07:06 The tricorn is of Venetian origin.
00:07:13 In contrast to the straight course
00:07:17 animated turns - anticlockwise -
00:07:21 directed by a ringmaster - clockwise.
00:07:45 A playground is the pleasure garden
00:07:49 Nature, sex,
00:07:53 like the water in the fountain:
00:07:56 masking a statue of a siren.
00:08:12 The youth in white breeches and the girl
00:08:17 Their game a dance, a pas-de-deux.
00:08:25 Allusion, yet so intensely innocent
00:08:29 that we do not actually expect
00:08:33 Instead an expectant glance -
00:08:38 musically accompanied by a new theme,
00:08:58 answered by an apparition, "dressed in
00:09:04 "from the smallest of décolletés
00:09:08 and glowing blonde hair".
00:09:13 "The austere countenance of the virgin,
00:09:17 reads the novel.
00:09:22 The mother without a man...
00:09:32 New to the music is the Freder Theme,
00:09:35 it describes him as a light-hearted,
00:09:41 The subject of her glance is Freder,
00:09:46 the nothing-more-than-son. All names
00:10:01 Heralded by the clarinet -
00:10:05 which from now on will accompany
00:10:44 A door closes,
00:10:48 This will be repeated at several
00:10:52 providing the impetus for further action
00:11:08 "Nothing could help him - nothing",
00:11:12 "In a tortuous, ecstatic omnipresence
00:11:16 a countenance:
00:11:20 the sweet countenance of the mother."
00:11:35 Later, we learn that Freder
00:11:49 Freder runs.
00:11:59 Where will Freder search for the virgin,
00:12:06 Not in the Workers' City, as one would
00:12:18 In this film, we can never be sure
00:12:22 what the characters see,
00:12:26 or is a hallucination, a vision, a dream
00:12:36 Freder searches for a woman -
00:12:45 In the novel, he now comes face to face
00:12:50 He strokes it, feels its limbs,
00:12:55 In the film, the machine is also
00:12:59 Freder in the novel: "Tonight I shall
00:13:04 pour my life into you and discover
00:13:09 Blood pressure and temperature
00:13:13 "Perhaps I will feel your trembling
00:13:17 in your rigid body. Perhaps I shall
00:13:21 with which you hurl yourself into
00:13:25 the man who made you."
00:13:31 But Freder also knows,
00:13:35 "Nothing in this world is more vengeful
00:13:39 that feels neglected."
00:13:48 In the film, the machine is called
00:13:52 M as in mother?
00:13:59 M as in Moloch.
00:14:03 a threatening musical gesture.
00:14:15 The film of the future is also a film
00:14:20 Moloch, the God of the Ammonites, to whom
00:14:24 to the chagrin of Moses and his God.
00:14:29 to the Old and New Testaments.
00:14:50 In the music, the Moloch Theme switches
00:14:56 Platoons of Workers, in rows of six,
00:15:00 which transforms back into the machine.
00:15:17 A machine, which produces nothing,
00:15:21 of the dead and injured -
00:15:25 which occurred only ten years before
00:15:56 Freder runs again...
00:16:21 "Towering structures",
00:16:25 "packed together in blocks,
00:16:29 more like mountain ranges than homes,
00:16:34 with glass-and-concrete buildings -
00:16:38 car-only streets -
00:16:41 electrical express trains
00:16:45 aeroplanes hover..."
00:16:49 "the New Tower of Babel,
00:17:14 In the music,
00:17:18 as a self-confident autocrat.
00:17:22 Jehova!
00:17:31 In Thomas Pinchon's novel
00:17:35 a kind of Wernher von Braun,
00:17:39 which he saw as a student in Berlin,
00:17:43 and evidently quite a few others,
00:17:47 a corporate City-State, in which
00:17:52 and in which engineers worked closely
00:17:56 and ultimate power
00:18:17 No sooner had Freder entered this room,
00:18:21 "than he was once again a boy of ten".
00:18:32 The music, the Moloch theme, tells us
00:18:44 The gestures of the son, unlike those of
00:19:14 Fredersen looks past him,
00:19:30 Fredersen's glances are orders,
00:20:03 Camera movements are rare in Metropolis
00:20:08 Here, the camera is guided
00:20:12 the pace of the discussion
00:20:19 moves it on...
00:20:22 first it progresses...
00:20:30 Then it pans with father and son.
00:21:15 It is in the children, not the adults,
00:21:23 himself as the infant prodigy
00:21:27 the motherly,
00:21:29 a kind of infant Jesus.
00:21:54 Fredersen is not only ruler
00:22:02 His city - an architectural dream,
00:22:06 a dazzling futuristic city,
00:22:09 constructivist towering structures -
00:22:12 as the urban crownof the New Tower of Babel.
00:22:54 First from the strings,
00:22:58 allegro alla marcia,
00:23:30 A video telephone on the wall behind.
00:23:34 Fredersen's office is the control,
00:23:38 His power is based on information.
00:24:08 Above Fredersen on the wall, the lower
00:24:14 Fredersen's power lies in his ability
00:24:41 The Worker, the capitalist,
00:24:44 the clerk -
00:25:07 The position of the seemingly
00:25:11 the most precarious.
00:26:07 Again a door closes behind somebody,
00:26:11 this person's disappearance
00:26:14 motivating Freder to dedicate himself
00:26:32 "That people are consumed by
00:26:36 to the son in the novel, "does not prove
00:26:40 but rather portrays the defective
00:26:45 In industry as well as in war.
00:26:54 Again, Freder runs.
00:27:00 For the father
00:27:01 For the father
00:27:36 Two rooms, two scenes,
00:27:39 interrelated, contrasting,
00:27:43 one commenting on the other -
00:27:49 there Fredersen's office - this becomes
00:28:15 Freder has followed Josaphat -
00:28:21 Fredersen, on the other hand,
00:29:12 Fredersen in right profile.
00:29:22 The Slim One in left profile.
00:29:26 Lang stages dialogue.
00:29:36 Freder again heading downstairs
00:29:51 - and again in an act of viewing.
00:30:07 Once again he is confronted with the
00:30:11 it is called "the Paternoster machine"
00:30:15 it keeps the elevator system
00:30:19 In the film it has no obvious function,
00:30:29 an allegorical machine, if you like.
00:31:33 The change of clothing manifests
00:31:43 This is the beginning of the incarnation
00:32:17 This cut is, up to now, the most serious
00:32:22 The critic Roland Schacht
00:32:26 Illusions similar to that
00:32:30 which distract Georgy from fulfilling
00:32:34 in French avant-garde films -
00:32:38 synthetic, characteristic effect
00:32:42 dazzling 'wax make-up' way".
00:32:50 In ancient times, reads the novel,
00:32:54 built the house in seven days.
00:33:01 Then, from a far distance
00:33:04 overcoming great resistance,
00:33:11 The Rotwang musical theme
00:33:22 Fredersen is the only person in
00:33:42 The removal of this figure is the gravest
00:33:49 The Hel of the Nordic sagas
00:33:53 motherly Goddess of Death.
00:34:01 In Hel, Rotwang has lost his lover,
00:34:10 Fredersen his wife,
00:34:14 Freder his mother - the loss inspires
00:34:27 How Lang stages a dramatic dialogue.
00:34:41 Fredersen in right profile -
00:34:49 Rotwang frontal,
00:34:54 both,
00:34:58 Fredersen in right profile,
00:35:11 The audience alternating, at times
00:35:36 Curtain up for Rotwang's first scene,
00:35:41 the New Hel.
00:35:43 On the wall a pentagram,
00:35:48 the tip pointing downwards
00:35:52 A metallic phallus with female
00:35:56 and on the abdomen, mounted and
00:36:16 The music echoes the most important
00:36:20 It comprises three motifs, attributed
00:36:25 and which at times appear separately,
00:37:26 Rotwang's artificial limb is steel,
00:37:30 to whom he sacrificed his hand.
00:38:03 Another parallel scene -
00:38:08 Fredersen with Rotwang -
00:38:38 The plan... Fredersen's copy
00:38:49 and the one which Freder finds...
00:38:53 acts as the pivot between
00:39:36 Rotwang's library
00:39:39 and a neon spiral lamp - Rotwang caught
00:39:46 Fredersen in contrast,
00:39:50 is the epitome of twenties modernity.
00:40:36 Freder's Passion
00:40:41 his cross the clock,
00:42:23 The omnipotent is not omniscient.
00:42:26 Lack of information is the motivation
00:42:37 For the first time we see him
00:42:41 moving from one scene to another.
00:43:15 Fredersen and Rotwang descend
00:43:22 left-right the Workers
00:43:30 both groups heading towards
00:43:58 Freder, hand on heart again
00:44:02 in the background -,
00:44:05 it states in the screenplay,
00:44:11 but no crucifix.
00:44:14 Countless niches in the walls, the bones
00:44:20 barely visible in the shadows."
00:44:25 A mixture of early Christian place
00:44:29 had just been filmed with Emil Jannings)
00:44:34 is the place where Freder meets
00:44:41 "Look at me, Virgin, his eyes prayed",
00:44:46 "Mother, look at me!"
00:44:58 Both strands of the plot intertwine
00:45:02 glance down into the crypt.
00:45:06 They do not recognise
00:45:21 The preacher is reciting a screenplay,
00:45:35 which Freder turns into a film for us.
00:45:43 The Creative Man, priest,
00:45:49 Accompanied by the music, played during
00:46:08 What here looks like a mammoth
00:46:12 turns out to be a model, around which
00:46:22 New to the music:
00:46:47 Five groups of Workers, a metaphor:
00:48:08 End of the simile, the sermon,
00:48:18 A look into the camera,
00:48:29 The epigram.
00:49:05 Thus we learn her name.
00:49:08 In the novel Freder asks:
00:49:12 She answers: "Mary." He answers:
00:49:16 "Only this can be your name."
00:49:40 Allegro alla marcia:
00:49:52 Fredersen believes he has seen enough.
00:50:13 What Rotwang sees, however, and wants
00:50:18 because a new plan
00:50:26 A dialogue is opening.
00:50:32 His hand beckons her,
00:50:42 he begins to speak,
00:50:49 his eyes follow her,
00:50:52 the camera assumes his gaze,
00:51:03 scans her gaze,
00:51:11 moving gently to him,
00:51:15 unites both in the picture...
00:51:20 the listener laterally from behind.
00:51:39 An erotic dialogue,
00:51:50 The Love Theme is playing
00:51:58 - now stops -
00:52:01 and is replaced by
00:52:05 in accentuated variations.
00:52:39 The couple is musically threatened
00:53:18 Will Rotwang give up his project
00:53:22 or will he extend it, if it can be used
00:53:37 the son of Hel,
00:53:41 who he himself expected from her?
00:55:14 Mary's light is candlelight,
00:56:25 The realm of death, the realm of Hel.
00:56:28 Is Freder's dead mother jealous
00:56:32 is this why she joins forces
00:56:58 Rotwang's lamp is a mechanical tool,
00:57:02 the entire man
00:57:06 Lucifer, "the bringer of light",
00:57:17 He showed this scene to a
00:57:21 "This beam of light which impales
00:57:25 refuses to release it, driving it
00:57:29 onwards into a state of abject panic,
00:57:34 to confess naively: 'We can't do this! '
00:57:39 "they just did not think of it", and:
00:57:43 be used to convey a mood, but should also
00:58:39 The cathedral:
00:58:43 "Mysticism, gothic, grandeur,
00:58:47 ceremony, incense",
00:58:51 "in the centre of the scene,
00:58:55 like the trunk of a palm." In the novel
00:58:59 the Gothics, who persistently
00:59:25 The adaptors of the film reduced
00:59:46 Again, a parallel action which interferes
00:59:50 transforms it into a fantasia.
01:00:01 The music in the cathedral scene:
01:00:05 musical epitome for death and disaster.
01:00:09 In the original version of the film,
01:00:13 with the memory of the penitential
01:01:11 This is the longest piece
01:02:25 The story of Freder, the good boy,
01:02:29 Rotwang, the sorcerer and the abducted
01:02:33 the air of a fairytale
01:03:01 Many fairytales are based on
01:03:12 The evil character
01:03:16 he foists another person
01:03:20 he transforms the person into another or
01:03:25 as Rotwang intends to do with Mary.
01:03:29 The hero, searching for the object
01:03:33 reaches the place
00:00:44 "Like the trail of a scent",
00:00:47 "the glow in front of him
00:01:11 The old house sucks Freder in,
00:01:16 it draws him into the depths.
00:01:53 The machinery of the old house is like
00:01:57 which keeps both
00:02:01 always being shown something,
00:02:36 Another sign... Mary's scarf.
00:03:12 And once again Freder's call for
00:03:21 a vision, a staging.
00:03:28 An earlier concept for the film
00:03:32 in different forms.
00:03:36 remembers Lang forty years later,
00:03:40 and occultism in the screenplay,
00:03:45 behind all events" - but they deviated,
00:03:53 Although not entirely:
00:03:56 "Centuries behind, centuries ahead",
00:04:00 Rotwang's laboratory was "half a quack's
00:04:05 and half experimental laboratory
00:04:10 In Rotwang's character Harbou and Lang
00:04:15 in one entity. A hermaphrodite,
00:04:20 That could have been conceived and staged
00:04:24 of the mechanical woman
00:04:33 His staging combines both feminine
00:04:37 translated into a spectacle of light.
00:04:41 A Luciferic act of procreation.
00:04:46 Rotwang endows his machine
00:04:50 but he also allows the feminine
00:04:54 in the figure of the virgin-mother,
00:04:58 The chaste Mary, the white and merciful,
00:05:02 and the hot, destructive,
00:05:06 are two aspects of the same character.
00:05:22 Rotwang's experimental table,
00:05:26 in her glass coffin to be awakened,
00:05:30 of Rotwang the psychoanalyst.
00:05:34 in the arcs of light stretching
00:06:11 Freder, like awakening from a nightmare,
00:06:27 Hel's room...
00:06:48 Mary's Theme, agitato, in a minor key.
00:07:14 The false Mary,
00:07:18 while at the same time
00:07:34 Why is Fredersen so doggedly determined,
00:07:46 In the figure of the merciful preacher,
00:07:51 - that of matriarchy - to his patriarchal
00:07:58 Freder's Oedipus experience.
00:08:11 The shock causes Freder to see father
00:08:16 rotating around each other. At this point
00:08:21 "I want to kill you! I want to
00:08:25 In the film, a fall
00:08:29 into the chasm of his subconscious.
00:08:36 Freder in bed,
00:08:39 the father in tails.
00:08:43 in front of his father's
00:08:47 The son remains in the care of the,
00:08:52 A sick child.
00:09:32 Freder's unconscious state
00:09:41 Can it be that Freder and Rotwang
00:09:45 as the alter egos of each other?
00:09:50 The absence of the mother,
00:09:54 for Freder's visions just as much as
00:10:03 Rotwang's audience consists
00:10:07 fathers and sons.
00:10:14 "Like a blasphemous halo",
00:10:18 the diadem on the woman's head appears
00:10:27 that fades out. Rotwang's show is a film,
00:10:32 another of Rotwang's light productions,
00:10:53 Rotwang's show and Freder's delirium
00:11:01 An important strand in this mesh,
00:11:05 of the monk's sermo in the cathedral,
00:11:33 Diverges from the action which was shown:
00:11:38 Isolated, edited gestures
00:11:42 combined with the picture
00:11:45 - groups, singles, only eyes finally -
00:11:49 Rotwang's production becomes Lang's...
00:12:27 Rotwang's show
00:12:34 the memory of the seven deadly sins
00:12:42 of the monk's sermon
00:12:45 which he associates with the image
00:12:49 the mother-whore...
00:12:57 which becomes one with that
00:13:39 Freder, convalescent, is reading.
00:13:44 A copy of the page which was shown
00:14:18 Again, two parallel scenes, the second
00:14:23 The spy reports to the father,
00:14:27 the friend to the son.
00:14:38 Nothing remains of this scene,
00:14:42 lead to the assumption
00:15:30 Only very few of the Yoshiwara takes
00:15:34 this one in a copy found in Australia,
00:15:37 incomplete, the end is missing,
00:16:47 Freder and Josaphat set off,
00:16:52 Fredersen gives Slim an order...
00:16:58 A third reporting situation
00:17:14 Rotwang tells Mary.
00:17:36 Included in his report,
00:17:41 as a parallel action, is the activity
00:17:46 Like the group of rich sons
00:17:49 the group of Workers in the catacombs,
00:18:23 Like the evil character in a fairy tale,
00:18:27 to be the one he keeps as a prisoner.
00:19:23 Ufa regarded the "red" Mary's speech
00:19:27 and ordered a milder form for
00:19:32 the title became:
00:19:36 for the rulers of Metropolis?"
00:19:40 Instead of...
00:19:43 "Who is the life force
00:20:00 Instead of...
00:20:02 in the revised version it became:
00:20:12 And for...
00:20:15 the false Mary had to say:
00:20:34 Freder, who only had visions before,
00:20:45 He sees through the double.
00:22:06 The adaptors found the construction with
00:22:10 around the second catacomb scene
00:22:50 Georgy's martyrdom not only seals
00:22:54 as a critical perceiver,
00:22:58 as a new Messiah.
00:23:25 The central square of the Workers' City
00:23:29 in the theatre of the revolution.
00:23:37 The first beats of the Marseillaise.
00:23:41 with the character of a citation.
00:23:45 into a frenzy corresponds to her
00:23:49 The gong podium is a tribune for the
00:23:53 takes part but an ecstatic ensemble.
00:24:10 The elevators. Earlier we saw the night
00:24:15 for transportation into the depths...
00:24:19 by men and women, who use them
00:24:23 the movement accelerated and reversed,
00:24:44 In the beginning only men were
00:24:48 the workers' wives, female workers.
00:24:51 The face of the repressed masses
00:24:55 unleashed, does this face obtain female
00:25:00 hitherto oppressed by organisation,
00:25:06 Again the same venues
00:25:09 in reverse order and viewing direction.
00:25:13 silently waiting for the raising
00:25:18 men and women,
00:25:52 The children, abandoned by their
00:25:57 offered for adoption by Mary,
00:26:39 Again two people,
00:26:43 two venues, alternating,
00:26:46 audio-visually bound by the
00:26:51 control and command tool
00:27:01 Subordinate and superior.
00:27:41 Back to the sounds of the Marseillaise,
00:28:11 The two Marys, now in parallel action:
00:28:14 The true, the white, finally free
00:28:27 and the false, the red, the force
00:28:45 Mary on her way
00:28:49 to save the children abandoned
00:29:00 Like a counter-manoeuvre
00:29:04 as a light show, electric pyrotechnic
00:29:08 the destruction of the Heart Machine...
00:29:17 before leaving the stage
00:29:20 a shadow ascending a staircase,
00:29:24 another audience, the sons of the rich.
00:29:40 Arm movements as though in parody
00:29:44 still identifying with the machine
00:30:20 The elevators now finally descending,
00:30:47 The water. "It was said",
00:30:51 "deep under the city there wanders
00:30:55 a path for the stream when he built
00:31:00 "It was also said that the stream
00:31:04 and that there was a pumping station
00:31:08 the reservoir in less than 10 hours."
00:31:11 The subterranean streams had been
00:31:15 obstructed by Fredersen and coupled
00:31:19 Now the unleashed waters of the depths
00:31:28 We have seen Rotwang working the levers
00:31:32 working the levers of the Heart Machine.
00:31:36 of the gong machine.
00:31:41 the tribune hosting the revolt,
00:32:05 The square fills with the water
00:32:09 It is almost as if the children
00:32:13 even though their own lives are
00:32:17 the absence of adults and breaching
00:33:31 The upper city too has been robbed
00:33:35 the destruction of the Heart Machine,
00:33:39 his flashlight...
00:34:43 No more doubt:
00:34:52 A couple of lovers...
00:35:04 but more like a couple of parents,
00:35:07 without act of procreation,
00:35:12 abandoned by their biological parents.
00:35:25 Not just a couple, but three, a trinity,
00:35:28 of which there soon will be more,
00:35:38 They take care of the children,
00:35:42 who have refused to be rescued by them.
00:36:35 A last climb through the airshaft
00:36:39 to the Club of the Sons.
00:36:49 The flying camera simulates
00:36:53 which rocks the city to its foundations.
00:37:33 Finale with Mary's theme...
00:37:42 general pause...
00:37:47 then again the Theme of the Uprising,
00:37:50 concentric circles, as though still under
00:38:01 Four, actually five venues and actions
00:38:05 are now interconnected:
00:38:14 Fredersen's office...
00:38:24 Fredersen, Slim...
00:38:29 then the machine hall
00:39:34 This question is musically answered...
00:39:41 by a motif from the
00:39:51 Thirdly, the Yoshiwara,
00:39:55 leads the sons of the rich
00:40:27 The Workers abandon the scene of action.
00:40:46 Fourthly, the entrance
00:40:53 with Freder. Here, a shot with Mary
00:41:00 And the children.
00:41:03 A square beneath this one,
00:41:07 ascending from the machine halls,
00:41:19 And finally, fifthly,
00:41:23 where Fredersen's down and out
00:42:25 This plot of interwoven strands again
00:42:29 they rearranged, they condensed.
00:42:52 They edited the film, giving the
00:42:56 is the only victim of the witch-hunt
00:43:02 By readjusting this shot
00:43:20 Only when you carefully look,
00:43:24 Mary running across the screen
00:43:29 who manage to couple her double.
00:43:55 Fittingly, the Workers construct
00:44:05 The stake is made from metal,
00:44:09 partly with their headlights
00:44:24 The false Mary tied to the stake.
00:44:27 She who was created by electrical sparks,
00:44:32 in a display of masochistic lust.
00:44:54 Josaphat and Freder separated.
00:45:33 Rotwang had awakened,
00:45:37 "but he knew he had died.
00:45:41 with the deepest satisfaction.
00:45:45 Upon finding Hel he would no longer
00:45:49 with anything on earth."
00:45:55 "Hel", he says in the novel.
00:45:59 although I have died,
00:46:10 Mary, the virgin, and her double,
00:46:14 a mirror image in one scene.
00:46:20 The red Mary at the stake,
00:46:24 pursued by Rotwang.
00:46:44 The bells of the cathedral
00:46:51 beckoning the saviour,
00:46:54 like the gong before
00:47:12 As Freder watches, the fire burns away
00:47:16 revealing her mechanical core,
00:47:19 musically triumphant, accompanied by
00:47:24 in vibrant major.
00:47:36 The scene on the cathedral roof
00:47:40 "Hunchback of Notre Dame". The novel had
00:47:47 An unmistakable reference:
00:47:56 After the demise of the evil
00:48:00 the final battle between
00:48:03 is enacted on the roof of the cathedral.
00:48:14 Freder, the naive fool, has learnt
00:48:19 between truth and lies. Then in the face
00:48:23 he has ripened to an active person,
00:48:27 with his antagonist.
00:48:37 Fredersen kneeling...
00:48:43 Slim and Josaphat
00:48:47 unite to offer him assistance.
00:49:06 And finally Grot, the foreman,
00:49:10 than loyal to his rulers.
00:49:42 In Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow",
00:49:47 onto the roof of the cathedral.
00:49:51 playing the mad inventor,
00:49:56 would have loved to be.
00:50:01 Indispensable to those who ran
00:50:05 the untameable lion who could let it
00:50:10 masses, himself,
00:50:12 asserting his reality against them all
00:50:17 from rooftop to street",
00:50:35 In Harbou's novel the chastened Fredersen
00:50:40 who does not appear in the film,
00:50:44 who pledges her love
00:50:48 A female trinity has the last word:
00:50:51 Mary, Fredersen's mother, Hel.
00:50:55 In Harbou's screenplay, Mary - acting
00:51:00 calls on Freder to be a mediator.
00:51:05 the women retreat totally into
00:51:06 The women retreat totally into
00:51:23 For the finale: The Mediator Theme.
00:51:35 The Workers, as at the beginning
00:51:39 darkly clothed and uniformed, marching
00:51:44 the loyal foreman at the vanguard,
00:51:49 to meet the triumvirate
00:51:58 The Mediator Theme culminates
00:52:02 of the Mary and the Metropolis Themes.
00:52:06 The rest is dealt with by the chiefs,
00:52:11 of Capital and Labour.
00:52:18 The social partners still require
00:52:29 They need a mediator,
00:52:43 Mary, as a woman is permitted
00:52:57 thus completing her task.
00:53:01 A male trinity analogous to the Father,
00:53:05 and the Holy Spirit has been formed.
00:53:53 Metropolis is a film of superlatives
00:53:58 provoked as much criticism,
00:54:02 at least not since the nineteen-eighties,
00:54:06 with new versions, new recordings,
00:54:10 and allusions to this film in new ones.
00:54:13 The film, its metaphors,
00:54:19 The interpretation is part of the
00:54:23 bizarre and excessive. There is no need
00:54:28 but they should be acknowledged as this
00:54:33 which are unthinkable without a certain
00:54:37 The commentary you have heard
00:54:41 read by David Cooke, notes on the music
00:54:46 Subtitles: VICOMEDIA 10/2002