Antigone

FOKUS: Films from Germany Festival

A russian doll of the Antigone myth through the centuries: Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub's film version of Berthold Brecht's 1948 play ‘The Antigone of Sophocles’, which in turn is based on Friedrich Hölderlin's 1804 translation of the ancient tragedy.

Sophocles' play, probably premiered in Athens in 442 BC, deals with Antigone's dilemma. Creon, the tyrant of Thebes, forbids the burial of his nephew Polynices, who, as an exile, waged war against his own city. Antigone, Polynices' sister and betrothed to Creon's son Haemon, defies Creon's order and buries her brother. As punishment, Creon has her walled up alive. Fearing the wrath of the gods for his harsh behaviour, Creon finally changes his mind and wants to free Antigone, but his change of mind comes too late: Antigone has already taken her own life. Her fate causes a chain reaction in Creon's family: her fiancé Haemon, Creon's son, and Eurydice, Creon's wife and Haemon's mother, follow her into death.

In his version, written shortly after the end of the Second World War, Brecht interpreted the material as a parable of totalitarian rule and civil engagement. Huillet and Straub's film adaptation reduces the play to its essential content by largely dispensing with camera movement and cinematic dramaturgy and allowing the text to have a direct impact on the audience.

Director: Danièle Huillet, Jean-Marie Straub, 1992, 100 min