Parsifal

Parsifal is a 1982 West German-French opera film directed by Hans-Jürgen Syberberg, based on the opera of the same name by Richard Wagner. It was shown out of competition at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. The soundtrack is a complete performance of the opera, but the imagery used is a melange including medieval costume, puppetry, Nazi relics and a giant death mask of Wagner. The Grail itself is represented by Wagner's Bayreuth Theatre, and Parsifal's key transformation is portrayed with a change of actor to an androgynous but deliberately female-suggesting form in order to achieve a union of male and female at the conclusion of Act II. Cast Armin Jordan - Amfortas / Music Conductor Robert Lloyd - Gurnemanz Martin Sperr - Titurel Michael Kutter - Parsifal 1 Edith Clever - Kundry Thomas Fink - 2nd Squire Rudolph Gabler - 1st Knight of the Grail Monika Gärtner - 1st Squire Reiner Goldberg - Parsifal (voice) Aage Haugland - Klingsor Karin Krick - Parsifal 2 David Luther - Young Parsifal David Meyer - 3rd Squire Yvonne Minton - Kundry (voice) Bruno Romani-Versteeg - 3rd Knight of the Grail Judith Schmidt - 4th Squire Wolfgang Schöne - Amfortas (voice) Amelie Syberberg - Bearer of the Grail Urban von Klebelsberg - 2nd Knight of the Grail Production Prior to making Parsifal, Hans-Jürgen Syberberg had made three films which bring up the subject of Richard Wagner: Ludwig: Requiem for a Virgin King from 1972, The Confessions of Winifred Wagner from 1975 and Hitler: A Film from Germany from 1977. The Confessions of Winifred Wagner had upset the descendants of Wagner, which had the effect that Syberberg was not allowed to use any existing recording of the opera for the soundtrack of Parsifal. A production was instead arranged specifically for the film, with Armin Jordan as conductor. The film was shot entirely in studio in 35 days, in Bavaria Atelier in Munich. The budget was just above three million Deutsche Mark.