FICTION

Wer war Edgar Allan?

Who Was Edgar Allan?

Michael Haneke
A German student leaves his country and goes to Venice. Instead of studying medicine, he devotes himself to the study of art history. He lives very modestly and spends the money sent by his father on alcohol and cocaine. When his father dies, he inherits considerable wealth. But it has no effect on the way he lives. He rarely wears elegant clothing or goes to the well-known restaurants of the city to be among his equals. On one of these occasions, he meets an American who, surprisingly, knows a lot about a deadly drug affair. The next time he encounters this mysterious old man who calls himself Edgar Allen, it is in a low dive. The student is now involved in an adventure which makes him doubt, more and more, the certainty of that which appears to us as something self-evident: reality. The viewer, too, who follows the student through the contradictions of this nightly labyrinth is himself pursued by two pressing questions: 'Who was Edgar Allan?' and 'What, if at all, is reality?' 'A capriccio in the spirit of black romanticism - it's not only a fest for the eyes but literature in film.' (K. H. Kramberg in 'Süddeutsche Zeitung', January 14, 1986, Munich)
Technical Data
Running time: 83
Format: 16 mm
Screen ratio: 1:1.33
Sound: Ennio Morricone, Walter Aman
Language spoken: German
Production year: 1984
Credits
Director(s): Michael Haneke
Writer(s): Hans Broczyner (based on the novel by Peter Rosei)
Cinematography: Frank Brühne
Editing: Lotte Klimitschek
Key cast: Paulus Manker, Rolf Hoppe, Guido Wieland, Otello Fava, Renzo Martini, Walter Corradi, Roberto Agazzi, Raul Constantini, Delio Campelli, Sonia Bovo
Producer: Michael Haneke
With
Production company:
Neue Studio Film, Vienna
for ORF