Introduction

Woyzeck [ˈvɔʏtsɛk] is a 1979 German drama film written, produced and directed by Werner Herzog and starring Klaus Kinski and Eva Mattes.

It is an adaptation of the unfinished play Woyzeck by German dramatist Georg Büchner.

Franz Woyzeck is a hapless, hopeless soldier, alone and powerless in society, assaulted from all sides by forces he can not control.

Outline

Franz Woyzeck, a lowly soldier stationed in a mid-nineteenth century provincial German town, is the father of an illegitimate child by his mistress Marie. Woyzeck earns extra money for his family by performing menial jobs for the Captain and agreeing to take part in medical experiments conducted by the Doctor. ts one of these experiments, the Doctor tells Woyzeck he must eat nothing but peas. Woyzeck’s mental health is breaking down and he begins to experience a series of apocalyptic visions. Meanwhile, Marie grows tired of Woyzeck and turns her attentions to a handsome drum major, who in an ambiguous scene taking place in Marie’s bedroom, sleeps with her.

After some time, and with his jealous suspicions growing, Woyzeck confronts the drum major, who beats him up and humiliates him. Finally and on the verge of mental breakdown, Woyzeck stabs Marie to death by a pond. Woyzeck disposes of the knife in the pond, and while trying to wash the blood off, he hallucinates that he is swimming in blood and apparently drowns himself and dies. While recovering the corpses, the townspeople relish the fact that “a real murder” has taken place, distracting everyone from their mind-numbingly boring lives.

Interpretation of the Original Unfinished Play

As critics disagree upon the order Büchner intended the surviving fragments of his work to be played, it is difficult to assert whether Herzog stuck to the play. He kept to the overall plot, but of necessity, his was an interpretation of how best the scenes should be pieced together to portray it.

Trivia

• Filming for Woyzeck in Telč, Czechoslovakia, began just five days after work on Herzog’s Nosferatu the Vampyre had ended.
• Herzog used the same exhausted crew and star.
• The scenes were accomplished mostly in a single take, which allowed the filming to be completed in only 18 days; it was edited in just four.
• Herzog had planned to use Bruno S. in the title role, but he then changed his mind, considering Kinski more suitable for the part.
• To compensate Bruno for this disappointment, Herzog wrote the leading role in the film Stroszek especially for him.
• At the 1979 Cannes Film Festival, Eva Mattes won the award for Best Supporting Actress for her part in this film. Herzog was nominated for the Golden Palm.
• In 1981, the film won the Silver Guild Film Award from the Guild of German Art House Cinemas.

Woyzeck (by Georg Buchner)

Woyzeck (German pronunciation: [ˈvɔʏtsɛk]) is a stage play written by Georg Büchner.

He left the work incomplete at his death, but it has been posthumously “finished” by a variety of authors, editors and translators.

Woyzeck deals with the dehumanising effects of doctors and the military on a young man’s life.

It is often seen as ‘working class’ tragedy, though it can also be viewed as having another dimension, portraying the ‘perennial tragedy of human jealousy’.

The play was admired both by the German naturalist Gerhart Hauptmann and, subsequently, by expressionist playwrights.

Consequently, Woyzeck has become one of the most performed and influential plays in the German theatre repertory.

Production & Filming Details

• Director(s): Werner Herzog.
• Producer(s): Werner Herzog.
• Writer(s): Werner Herzog.
• Cinematography: Jorg Schmidt-Reitwein.
• Editor(s): Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus.
• Production: Werner Herzog Filmproduktion and Zweites Deutsces Fernsehen (ZDF).
• Distributor(s): Werner Herzog Filmproduktion.
• Release Date: 24 August 1979.
• Running Time: 82 minutes.
• Country: West Germany.
• Language: German.