# Prospero's Books (1991)

### reviewed by
Ted Prigge

    PROSPERO'S BOOKS (1991)
    A Film Review by Ted Prigge
    Copyright 1998 Ted Prigge

Director: Peter Greenaway Writer: Peter Greenaway (with dialogue from "The Tempest" by William Shakespeare) Starring: John Gielgud, Isabelle Pasco, Michael Clark, Michael Blanc, Erland Josephson

It becomes apparent about 7 minutes into Peter Greenaway's "Prospero's Books" when John Gielgud says the opening line repeatedly that this will not be a typical straight translation of Shakespeare's "The Tempest." In fact, if the credits did not say that this film was an adaptation of the classic play, it would probably be very difficult to tell that this is that play in the first place, even though much of the original dialogue is used.

To call "Prospero's Books" bizarre is an understatement; more like it should be called "freaky as hell." It's not a film that is concerned with: a) telling a story, or b) reciting Shakespeare, but it is concerned with creating mood, a certain feeling, and addressing some of the more understated parts of the play, most notably the 24 books that Prospero owns that he prizes more than his dukedom. What was in all those books? Why are they considered so great? In fact, the story of "The Tempest" is given a back seat to these books and various other things.

I never read "The Tempest" (although I did happen to check out a two paragraph summary of the play prior to seeing it - it helped only slightly), and anyone who's coming into this film trying to see an adaptation of the play should go elsewhere. The story of "The Tempest" deals with a duke of Milan named Prospero who is driven out of his land by some of his enemies, and put in a boat with his daughter to die at sea. But his friend placed several of his favorite books in the boat with him, and upon landing at an island, he mastered sorcery, and eventually began to control the sprites and various fairies that lived there. However, he finds that his enemies from before are sailing nearby, and he creates a tempest to sink their ship, and cause them to come to the island, where he will exact his revenge on them. But before he knows it, his daughter, Miranda, has fallen in love with one of them, and by the finale, Prospero has forgiven his enemies.

That's "The Tempest." "Prospero's Books" tells this story, but only barely. The film is more interested in setting a mood, and creating a beautiful and hypnotic look to the film. For the many sprites, fairies, and various other people inhabiting the island, there are probably hundreds of naked extras, all walking around in the buff, and doing various things. Even one character, Caliban (dancer Michael Clark), dances everything wildly, never saying a word. And the enemies are given wacky period garb, with giant white collars, and are forced to be tortured by sprits on the island.

Above everything is John Gielgud, one of the greatest actors of the 20th century, playing the bitter, angered Prospero, who plans everything that goes on in the film, and allows Gielgud to give one of the best performances of his career. In the film, Prospero is seen writing the play himself, planning out his revenge carefully, and playing on everything like a god. Like a playwright, he holds his enemies in his hands, and anything he wants to happen to them will happen. Greenaway uses this approach to its fullest extent, even going as far as to have Gielgud say all of the lines for the characters, who often stand mute as Gielgud's voice is filled in for them. Not only do you get to hear Gielgud's powerful voice when he speaks, but you get to hear it distorted a bit when he speaks for others.

And there are the books, which we are shown one-by-one throughout the course of the film in detail with individual summations done by another narrator, not speaking Shakespeare like Gielgud is. The books are often huge, with magical powers. For instance, a book on human anatomy pulses and bleeds when one opens it. Greenaway was obviously intrigued with the fact that Prospero took so much pride in owning them that he'd take them over his dukedom, and by seeing them, it's no wonder why.

Greenaway takes all of these elements (the story, Gielgud's god-like presence, and the books) and creates one hell of a sensual experience out of them. The film is a lavish production, with lots of staginess to them, and some very beautiful mise-en-scene, some of the best I have ever seen in my entire life. The cinematography by Sacha Vierny is absolutely incredible, and Michael Nyman does yet another brilliant score, even writing some songs that are presented in certain sections of the film. The costumes (and sometimes lack thereof) are ingenius looking, especially Prospero's long, blue robe that he occasionally wears. Greenaway definitely has a way of making a film look just amazing, and I know that I'm going out on a limb here, but I'd say that Peter Greenaway is probably the best visual director to ever live...or at least up there.

It becomes obvious that Greenaway's main focus is not really the play, or the god approach he takes, or even really the books, but that he's really trying to take film to a whole other plateau. I wouldn't call this film "experimental" because it does actually tell the story. "Prospero's Books" is actually a whole other kind of film, perhaps "experimental narrative," where the story is told, but done in a completely freaky way that has never been done before. I've seen this film being judged as strictly an adaptation of Shakespeare, when it's actually just a meditation on creating what it must have been like for Prospero.

But Greenaway takes it even further, and makes this film into one of the very few "abstract" films I've ever seen. It's not concerned with anything but being hypnotic and using film's plastic elements to its extremes, or at least as far as Greenaway can take it. Books can create a world inside a person's head, paintings can create a visual experience, music can create an audio experience. Film is pretty much all of these. We get the visuals, the audio, and anything else that is not shown is left to the imagination. Greenaway crafts the film so that the visuals are striking (not only in mise-en-scene, but the way the screen is done, we see layers upon layers of different screens, waiting to be peeled away), the audio is messed with (multiple tracks and whatnot), and in the end, we're still wondering about the books. Luckily, it left something to the imagination.

    MY RATING (out of 4): ***1/2

Homepage at: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/8335/

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