Straub-Huillet’s first color film, adapts a lesser-known Corneille tragedy from 1664, which in turn was based on an episode of imperial court intrigue chronicled in Tacitus’s Histories. The costuming is classical, and the toga-clad, nonprofessional cast performs the drama’s original French text amid the ruins of Rome’s Palatine Hill while the noise of contemporary urban life hums in the background. Their lines are executed with a terrific flatness and frequently through heavy accents; the language in Othon becomes not merely an expression but a thing itself, an element whose plainness here alerts us to qualities of the work that might otherwise be subordinated.
Credits
Othon Cast
Othon Crew
| Name |
Department |
|
Renato Berta as Director of Photography. He was 26 (now 79) years old
|
Camera |
|
Jean-Marie Straub as Director. He was 38 (now 91) years old
|
Directing |
|
Jean-Marie Straub as Editor. He was 38 (now 91) years old
|
Editing |
|
Danièle Huillet as Director. She was 34 (70) years old when She died
|
Directing |
|
Danièle Huillet as Editor. She was 34 (70) years old when She died
|
Editing |
|
Pierre Corneille as Theatre Play. He was 364 (78) years old when He died
|
Writing |
|
Louis Hochet as Sound Recordist. He was 18 (46) years old when He died
|
Sound |
