In many ways, the best antecedents I can think of to this film are Ingmar Bergman’s films, The Hour Of the Wolf and Shame. The former because, like The Prince, in this film, there is a sense of dead based upon possible preternaturalism. Tarr’s film is far more equivocal than Bergman’s, nevertheless, the tone is similar, and Werckmeister Harmonies definitely qualifies as a horror film. In fact, in some ways, the scenes of the mob in the streets are reminiscent of James Whale’s Frankenstein. However, where Whale’s horror was based upon the dead resurrected, and Bergman’s upon possible vampirism, this film is in sync with Shame, in that its horror is a human one, and the mania unleashed by The Prince and the whale resembles that unleashed by the machinery of war. The wreckage and carnage in the center of town, the morning after the mob rampage, is a more realistic one than the floating bodies that end Shame, but the mood in the eyes of the two films’ protagonists is the same.
The DVD, put out by Facets Video, is a good one, qualitatively. But, it is utterly bare bones: no commentary, no trailer, no featurettes. Its only extra is a small booklet with essays on Tarr and the specific film, However, when a film is this great, it doesn’t really matter. The sound quality is very good, and the film is in a 1.66:1 aspect ratio. There is one big negative, though, and that is the white subtitling Facets employs. I’ve often ripped on titles from The Criterion Collection for this flaw, but this particular Facets DVD is even worse, for not only are the subtitles white, but very thin. Also, there are several scenes where the extreme white in the cinematography (excellent by Medvigy Gábor, and supposedly composed of less than 40 actual shots in the film - claims range from 33-39, which, according to legend, allowed Tarr to edit the film in less than a day) almost totally blanches out what one can read.
What the hell is wrong with the folks in the subtitles department? Is it too damned much to add a bit of gold, or even some black trim about the subtitles so that they can actually be read? It’s bad enough DVD companies skimp on English language dubs, but illegible subtitles? The score (piano and violin), by Míhaly Vig, who played Irimias in Satantango, is spare, but highly effective, as any scoring should be, and it's likely the best in the Tarr films I’ve seen, adding to the reality that this is the most emotional of the films, as well. Some critics, however, have taken issue with the film’s scoring, claiming that the film argues that music is an immanently flawed vehicle to base any sort of foundation upon, thus the film’s score is at odds with its artistic claim. But, this is clearly wrong, since the film does not argue that music is immanently flawed, just one of its characters does — Eszter.
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