Karajan: Portrait of a Maestro

Sep 22, 2019

0h 53m

★ 7.0

Overview

An account of the life and work of controversial German orchestra conductor Herbert von Karajan (1908-89), celebrated as one of the greatest musicians of the twentieth century.

Genres

Documentary

History

TV Movie

Production Companies

SWR

ARTE

Karajan: Portrait of a Maestro Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Self - Narrator (voice)

Birgitta Assheuer

Self - Music Journalist

Peter Csobádi

Self - Historian

Oliver Rathkolb

Self - Opera Singer

Christa Ludwig

Self - Music Critic

Eleonore Büning

Self - Anita von Karajan's Niece

Alexandra Gütermann

Self - Karajan's Secretary

Lore Salzburger

Self - Musician

Werner Resel

Self - Musician

Karl Leister

Self - Musician

Anne-Sophie Mutter

Self - Musician

Peter Brem

Self - Musician

Clemens Hellsberg

Jane Birkin has forged a unique bond with France and the French. Between the small Englishwoman, muse of Gainsbourg, then of Doillon or Chéreau, and her adopted country, love at first sight was immediate and lasted for more than fifty years. This documentary goes back, through the prism of this unique bond, to the life and career of a peculiar artist in the French musical and cinematographic landscape. The intimate portrait of a freedom-loving woman.

6.5

The Man Who Defied Beijing

May 14, 2019

A portrait of Chinese writer Liu Xiaobo (1955-2017), a witness of the Tiananmen Square massacre (1989), a dissident, a woodpecker who tirelessly pecked the putrid brain of the Communist regime for decades, demanding democracy loudly and fearlessly. Silenced, arrested, convicted, imprisoned, dead. Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2010, alive forever. These are his last words.

7.5

The Official Story

Apr 3, 1985

Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1983. In the last and turbulent days of the military dictatorship, Alicia, a high school history teacher, begins to ask uncomfortable questions about the dark origins of Gaby, her adopted daughter.

7.1

Babenco: Tell Me When I Die

Nov 26, 2020

Besieged by cancer and nearing the end, the genius Argentine-Brazilian filmmaker Héctor Babenco (1946-2016) asks Bárbara Paz, his wife, for one last wish: to be the protagonist of his own death.

6.7

Andrey Tarkovsky. A Cinema Prayer

Oct 17, 2019

An account of the life and work of Russian filmmaker Andrey Tarkovsky (1932-86) in his own words: his memories, his vision of art and his reflections on the fate of the artist and the meaning of human existence; through extremely rare audio recordings that allow a complete understanding of his inner life and the mysterious world existing behind his complex cinematic imagery.

0.0

Ludwig van Beethoven

Jul 2, 1954

Documentary on the master composer, from a GDR point of view.

6.2

Hanussen

May 20, 1988

A man's story parallels Hitler's rise. Austrian Klaus Schneider, wounded in World War I, recovers in the care of Dr. Emil Bettleheim. Bettleheim discovers that Schneider possesses powers of empathy and of clairvoyance, such that could aid suicidal patients. After the war, with one friend as his manager and another as his lover, Schneider changes his name to Eric Jan Hanussen and goes to Berlin, as a hypnotist and clairvoyant performing in halls and theaters. He always speaks the truth, which brings him to the attention of powerful Nazis. He predicts their rise (good propaganda for them) and their violence (not so good). He's in pain and at risk. What is Hanussen's future?

10.0

Die Akte Beethoven

Oct 30, 2013

In a mixture of feature film, music documentary and animated comics, historical facts are retold, analyzed and interpreted in modern settings. Ludwig van Beethoven, played by Lars Eidinger, becomes a contemporary of today's audience. Quick-tempered, irascible, curmudgeonly - that is the common image of Ludwig van Beethoven, the composer with the wild lion's mane. But there is also another Beethoven - young, seductive, spirited and, above all, combative.

No Image Available

0.0

La placa, una familia

Invalid Date

No overview available.

7.3

Rivers and Tides

Feb 13, 2001

Portrait of Andy Goldsworthy, an artist whose specialty is ephemeral sculptures made from elements of nature.

6.9

Heaven Adores You

May 14, 2014

Heaven Adores You is an intimate, meditative inquiry into the life and music of Elliott Smith. By threading the music of Elliott Smith through the dense, yet often isolating landscapes of the three major cities he lived in -- Portland, New York City, Los Angeles -- Heaven Adores You presents a visual journey and an earnest review of the singer's prolific songwriting and the impact it continues to have on fans, friends, and fellow musicians.

6.9

Barbra Streisand: Becoming an Icon 1942–1984

Apr 16, 2017

Barbra Streisand grew up in working class Brooklyn, dreaming of escape from her tough childhood. A stellar student, she resisted the pressure to go to college as her sights were firmly set on Broadway. She was determined to become an actress and landed her first role aged 16, but it was two years later, when she started to sing, that her career took off. Subverting stereotypes and breaking glass ceilings, this programme looks at her rise to stardom and the remarkable achievements of her early career.

10.0

Samuel Barber: Absolute Beauty

Mar 23, 2017

Known for his mournful "Adagio for Strings," Samuel Barber was never quite fashionable. This acclaimed film is a probing exploration of his music and melancholia. Performance, oral history, musicology, and biography combine to explore the life and music of one of America’s greatest composers. Features Thomas Hampson, Leonard Slatkin, Marin Alsop and many more of the world's leading experts on Barber's music, with tributes from composers Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson and William Schuman. The film was broadcast on PBS, and screened at nine film festivals internationally, with three best-of awards. It was named a Recording of the Year 2017 by MusicWeb International.

8.0

Éric Rohmer, Childhood Spirit

Jun 22, 2025

The documentary delves into Éric Rohmer's distinctive filmmaking process, using film clips, rare interviews, and unreleased test footage.

3.0

Tage des Sturms

May 7, 2003

On June 17, 1953, there was an outrageous action between the Elbe and the Oder: the people in the GDR refused obedience to their political leadership. The story takes place in Bitterfeld and tells the story of a family involved in the political events around 17 June.

7.0

Moonface: A Woman in the War

Jan 27, 2019

A walk through the life and career of the legendary French photojournalist Christine Spengler, known as Moonface, one of the few female war reporters in the seventies, also a writer and surrealist painter, who worked in Chad, Northern Ireland, Vietnam, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq and other places where unfortunately war and death prevailed for years.

6.6

Elton John: Never Too Late

Nov 15, 2024

Sir Elton John looks back on his life and the astonishing early days of his 50-year career in this emotionally charged, full-circle journey. As he prepares for his final concert in North America at Dodger Stadium, Elton takes us back in time and recounts his struggles with adversity, abuse, and addiction, and how he overcame them to become the icon he is today.

5.0

Behind Natacha Rambova's Shadow

Jul 6, 2019

The adventurous life of Natacha Rambova (1897-1966), an American artist, born Winifred Kimball Shaughnessy, who reincarnated herself countless times: false Russian dancer, silent film actress, scenographer and costume designer, writer, spiritist, Egyptologist, indefatigable traveler, mysterious and curious; an amazing 20th century woman who created the myth of Rudolph Valentino.

5.7

Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire

Jul 15, 1991

Actress Sally Field looks at the dramatic life and successful career of the superb actress Barbara Stanwyck (1907-90), a Hollywood legend.