Ludwig (2018)

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

A different way of telling a story

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Final film of Luchino Visconti's German trilogy consisting The Damned & Death in Venice. Ludwig tells the story of king of Bavaria from his crowning in 1864 till death in 1886. It deals with his affection towards musician Richard Wagner, his love affair with his cousin Elisabeth - empress of Austria, his sexuality, clashes with government, eccentric behavior and finally slipping into madness. Visconti once again handles the script masterfully, no doubt he's best when it comes Historical dramas. However this four hour epic keeps its lead character at the center from the first frame till the end. It is a fantastic character study. It takes the viewer through a dark journey of destruction and sadness. Ludwig is a character who wants to live his own life with complete freedom. Of course, he was never a responsible monarch. But as a person one could feel sympathy for him; all the betrayals and abandons at a young age only leads him towards madness. This is quite a neutral take on his life, narration by his fellow servants is another interesting thing about it. It has brilliant sets and costumes. Helmut Berger lives up in the role of Ludwig, from a young romantic hero to a mentally disabled king - he did a great job. Romy Schneider & Trevor Howard also leave their mark. Above all, it is an extra-ordinary historical drama. One of the great achievements of Luchino Visconti.

What happens when absolute power is placed in the hands of a kind totally unfit to rule? When the king neglects his country's problems to finance his artistic protégés and build sumptuous castles? When the king's mental faculties are clearly degenerating? When the country's independence withers and its public debt increases? What's a country to do with such a king? These are some of the questions Luchino Visconti's Ludwig poses. The final instalment of Visconti's Germany history trilogy, which includes The Damned and Death In Venice, Ludwig is about King Ludwig II of Bavaria, also known as the Swan King, the Moon King, the Fairy-Tale King, and, what is arguably the fittest nickname, the Mad King of Bavaria.The theme of madness runs through most of the movie, in a languid pace, demonstrating the slow mental breakdown of Ludwig (Helmut Berger). A young, idealistic aristocrat, he assumes power with the intentions of practicing only good and serving his country God. But the young King, obsessed with arts, and especially Richard Wagner's music, has a quaint vision of his duties. For him spiritual regeneration is more important than material matters, so his first decision is to bring Wagner (Trevor Howard), on the run from creditors, to Munich, to stage his magnificent and expensive Tristan and Isolde.From the beginning Ludwig constantly clashes against his ministers, who dislike the king's aloofness and squandering of the public treasury. In their defence, Wagner is portrayed as a grovelling, greedy sycophant who constantly exploits the king's idealism for personal gain. Trevor Howard does a great job playing the legendary composer.Ludwig's alienation from his people is clearly portrayed during when Bavaria takes the side of Austria against Prussia, during the Seven Week's War. While his people, his younger brother included, fight and suffer humiliating defeats, Ludwig retreats to a palace, refusing to accept that a war is raging on. Years later, when Wilhelm I of Prussia unifies the German kingdoms into the German Empire, Ludwig, by then completely oblivious to what went in around him, Ludwig is forced to sign away the independence of his kingdom in the new empire.Ludwig can be pretty hard to follow without a reasonable grasp of East European history, and Visconti tries to cram so much into the movie that most events are barely developed, but the second half of the movie, dealing with the construction of Ludwig's famous castles, with underground lakes for swans, is more interesting and dramatic. With his mental collapse obvious, Ludwig now inhabits a fairy-tale world, separated from reality, any chances of marrying and bearing an heir pretty much over, indulging in orgies and hiring actors to represent for him his favourite monologues. It's at this time that the ministers plot to replace the king with someone else.Helmut Berger, who was outstanding as an extravagant hedonist in Visconti's The Damned, plays essentially the same role but with less charisma. Berger is quite good but he can't carry on his own a movie with very little story. Visconti could have chosen to concentrate on a specific period of Ludwig's short reign, to condense the dramatic power of his life. Instead the viewer is asked to stand repeated scenes of Ludwig discoursing about art, of ministers worrying about public debt, and of beautiful people sitting in beautiful couches surrounded by beautiful decoration. This is the movie where Visconti's sense of design and art direction takes over the importance of drama. This takeover slowly asserts itself through the trilogy, with Death In Venice already barely keeping the balance between the story and Visconti's love for Venice's derelict buildings and dirty streets.In spite of Visconti's preference of costumes and buildings over people, Helmut Berger does a great job as Ludwig. His transformation is impressive. He starts as a clean-shaved, angelic youth and progressively assumes a more demonic look, growing his hair and beard, letting his teeth rotten until his mouth looks like a piece of coal, growing paler and developing sunken eyes. In fact most of his acting is done with his eyes, always showing a lot of emotions and mental activity going on, as befits a man diagnosed with paranoia. Berger's performance is one of the main reasons to watch this movie.This is perhaps Visconti's ultimate achievement in design and art direction and few movies can boast of being prettier than Ludwig. Although I was less than pleased with the glacial pace of this movie – not that I have anything against glacial paces, just unjustified ones – it deserves a watch, when one has four hours to spend without regrets.

Ludwig truly is Visconti's magnificent epic masterpiece. The life of Ludwig II of Bavaria is truly worthy of a great film epic and Helmut Berger is amazingly good in the lead role. The exquisitely beautiful Romy Schneider is incredible as Ludwig's cousin Empress Elisabeth of Austria. The costumes and settings are truly magnificent. Visconti has actually gained access to some of the original locations which make his film truly wonderful. Castle Nymphenberg is truly beautiful. The luscious coronation preparation scene is truly evocative of the period with the magnificent uniforms and court dresses. Izabella Telezynska is amazing in the role of Queen Marie of Bavaria, Ludwig's Mother as is Gert Frobe as Ludwig's confessor. The very talented Helmut Griem is fantastic as Count Durckheim as is Trevor Howard as Wagner. The odious Professor Dr.Gudden is well played by Heinz Moog. John Moulder-Brown is also very good as Ludwig's younger brother, Prince Otto. This truly is a masterpiece of cinema.

If you don't like Helmut Berger, this movie will give you 247 hard minutes, and unfortunately, I loathe him. But despite his public misbehavior, his disgusting arrogance and narcissism, he was a splendid actor with an undeniably intriguing presence. Under Visconti's direction, he turned into breathtaking performances, and his Ludwig made no exception.Supported by the acting talents Trevor Howard, Romy Schneider, Silvana Mangano, Helmut Griem and Gert Fröbe and Armando Nanuzzi's photography, Berger and Visconti draw the portrait of a self-destructive, eccentric man, torn between his love for the arts and his political duties. The lavish art direction (Mario Scisci, Albino Cocco) alone makes Visconti's vision a cinematic masterpiece which makes it hard for the viewer to take his eyes off. Nevertheless, the lack of action and plot makes it quite hard for the viewer to keep his eyes open for four hours and seven minutes.There are some shorter versions (183 and 148 minutes) around as well. For those who are not obsessed with Visconti, Berger, or Ludwig II., one of these might very well suffice.