The Mystery of Oberwald

Released Sep 3, 1981

2h 9m

Drama

List

50%

Tomatometer

10 Reviews

41%

Popcornmeter

250+ Ratings

A killer (Franco Branciaroli) confronts a secluded Ruritanian queen (Monica Vitti) whose husband was assassinated on their wedding day.

Gilbert Adair

Sight & Sound

Mine is a minority opinion, but I am convinced that his experiments with video and colour will make Il Mistero di Oberwald the Becky Sharp of cinema's long-promised and long-deferred electronic era.

Aug 1, 2015

Full Review

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

The choice of the Cocteau play seems more arbitrary than inevitable, which raises the form-versus-content issue even more than in most Antonioni features.

Jul 31, 2007

Full Review

Noel Murray

AV Club

The visual play is interesting, but it doesn't make the director's case that video is as viable as film for artful storytelling.

Jun 4, 2001

Full Review

Diego Galán

El Pais (Spain)

The end result is cold. The melodrama's emotion and the technical magic are absent. [Full Review in Spanish]

Aug 23, 2019

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Too stage-bound and the dialogue is too tacky.

Rated: C+

Apr 2, 2015

Full Review

TV Guide

This opulent made-for-Italian-TV production is a must-see for both for fans of Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni and of legendary surrealist Jean Cocteau.

Rated: 3.5/4

Aug 29, 2006

Full Review

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Audience Member

antonioni decouvre les joies de la video et donne une lecon de cinema a cocteau. d'accord, 40 ans se sont ecoules.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A decade passed between the first and second time I saw this film. It's so bizarre. I continue to try to find a place for it in my brain. I don't in all ways love it, but it's interesting and odd.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Michelangelo's most dreadful mistake. A horrible experiment with video. Poor Monica Vitti.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/24/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A strange little chamber drama that may have opened the door for others to condescend to experimenting with video.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/14/23

Full Review

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Michelangelo Antonioni

Director

Monica Vitti

The Queen

Franco Branciaroli

Sebastian

Paolo Bonacelli

Count of Foehn

Elisabetta Pozzi

Edith de Berg

Luigi Diberti

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Synopsis

A killer (Franco Branciaroli) confronts a secluded Ruritanian queen (Monica Vitti) whose husband was assassinated on their wedding day.

Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Producer: Sergio Benvenuti, Giancarlo Bernardoni, Alessandro von Norman
Screenwriter: Michelangelo Antonioni, Jean Cocteau, Tonino Guerra
Distributor: Facets
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Italian
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 3, 1981, Original
Runtime: 2h 9m