Plot: What’s it about?
Many years ago, an image of a unique kid had come to this viewer’s television screen and for the life of me I tried to remember what movie it was. At first I thought it was another in the sixties popular “Damned Children” series. Alas I was wrong as the film was not in the sixties but in the late seventies and it took a cover saying The Tin Drum to tell me which movie it was. The director behind that unique picture is Volker Schlondorff. That film earned him the Palm D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival tieing with Frances Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now. This was not the first effort from this German director that caught the eye of the Cannes audience. The first effort happened in the 1960s telling a period story about boys in a boarding school and one helpless individual out of the pack who goes by the name Young Torless.
The time is the early 1900’s and things are slow and tedious at an Austrian boys boarding school. A few of the boys have their own ideas along with knowing a few secret paths, but the one with the least vision of the future is a shy but mathmatically curious student named Torless (Mathieu Carriere) who shares many other curiosities with the other students but when it comes to boarding school with all it’s options, there are all it’s hard knocks when Torless witnesses between his classmates one such individual with a hand stuck in the wrong place and the consequences of being in the wrong place.
It’s talky and it’s an older movie but it does move at a casual pace which is not a bad thing for this film. There are simple shots and those can speak volumes even in it’s silence or in it’s laconic manner. The smart move of casting unknowns rather than well known German actors in the parts of the students was a bold choice as it gave the film a fresh audience feeling choosing no sides but not making the circumstances too complicated. The environment is cold, ordinary and depressing but the film has a look all it’s own.
Special mention should be made for the unique score that is more unpredictable than the movie. It displays how even the most obedient/disobedient can feel so alone at a school that should have a feeling of togetherness and a positive campus life but in this case it’s just the opposite. Schlondorff also gives a nice final moment to the title character as he applies himself verbally in front of many for one last effort before the inevitable.
The results are as old as day, and some things never change but with Young Torless it gives a sense of observing the unfortunate and it is simple disturbing but the audience is never too old to have a conscience in the most bothersome circumstances.
Video: How does it look?
Young Torless retains the anamorphic treatment in the 1.78 aspect ratio and the overall condition in that the clarity is vast but does not hold up during all eighty seven minutes of this film as the print has one or two white specks every now and then with the occasional print lines in the darker scenes of the film. Also in these scenes the print seems to go through a light dim going in and out. The transfer as a whole is a good effort despite the flaws of the source materials.
Audio: How does it sound?
Where Young Torless has a mixed effect in the visual department, the opposite is true for it’s Dolby Digital 2.0 mono track as the dialogue has a slight wall bouncing effect and the track relies to the center channels but in the outer channels, even in a mono track the bells and whistles literally are as loud as any and certainly had this viewer jumping out of his seat at the notable times. Whether it came to class being in session or an incoming train, the effects give an effect in mono that could’ve been easily mistaken for a 5.1 track but with this one it fares very well. This disc also has German subtitles which is regularly viewed with the film and can be turned off to view the film without them.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Criterion gives a short but sweet treatment in terms of extras as they are placed in a section of the DVD called “The Attic”. In this little place, we start off with A German Movie, a 21 minute video interview with director Volker Schlondorff chatting up about his rise in filmmaking from the smaller crew positions to his promise to make one film for a lifetime and his association with other German filmmakers leading to his making of Young Torless.
It is an extraordinary piece with the lessons learned on the first film, what measures were taken to make it possible as well as thoughts on the final product.
After that, there is a presentation of the film’s original score by Hans Werner Henze with a three minute introduction from director Schlondorff chatting up with the unique direction the score had taken. It is thirteen minutes of score, ten selections and it is certainly a unique listen on it’s own.
Next is a small 3 screen text biography on Young Torless’ author, Robert Musil, entitled The Author with Qualities and finishing up with a stills gallery of production and promotions as well as the film’s theatrical trailer.
With it’s disturbing subject matter and the one of a kind direction by Volker Schlondorff, Young Torless is a piece that has visual potential and great audio effects, but is given a nice treatment on DVD thanks to the extra contribution of Schlondorff and his thoughts along with the other little memories from the film not captured on video.
