Bride of the Wind (2001)

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

hyped garbage

I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Alma Mahler is one of impressive legends of Mitteleuropa. To describe her life is an Utopian endeavor. Her power, art of seduction, fights and ambitions, her relationship with flower of Austrian culture, the American experience and his prestige are parts of unique existence without any explanation.In this film, Alma is only a character. Oversimplified, mosaic of clichés, image in a steamed mirror. It is only a hasty sketch, message less, artificial, in who the charm of Sarah Wynter is unique trap for spectator. It is not, at least, a cogent disappointed.The Jonathan Pryce acting is interesting but irrelevant. The atmosphere is only illusion of a gorgeous period. And the story falls in abyss. Alma Mahler is more that a beautiful doll. She is a magnificent legend of a amber time.

The film seems to have been a history re-enactment on the life of Alma Schindler. It did not get into the details of the what, why and how of the relationships and inspirations. It basically just showed the events in her life. Maybe Sarah Wynter was not the right person for the role because she did not reveal in her role why all these men would fall for her and create greatness in her presence. Or maybe the dialog was too simplistic and things just jumped from courting to ending of the relationship without anybody knowing why it happened. Or the directing just didn't create that passion between any of the two characters for us to think that they would get together. I guess we'll never know.

I watched this bit of eye candy in the hope that the story of Alma Schindler Mahler Gropius Werfel would unfold and the world could see a portrait of a daring, talented woman who was indeed liberated in nearly every sense of the word. Mahler is one of one of my favorite composers and I became fascinated with Alma Schindler, believe it or not, from a parody sung by Tom Lehrer. However, since that time, many, many years ago, I've managed to read several excellent biographies of Mahler as well as Alma Schindler's autobiography, which leads me to comment on this film. Sadly, this film disappoints. It is a beautiful piece of work, with darkness wrought from bright colors, ala Bergman's Cries and Whispers, and with wonderful costumes. But, as the other reviews herein note, the script is weak and Sarah Wynter's performance is spotty. Indeed, the two male stars, Jonathon Pryce as Mahler and Vincent Perez as the artist, Oskar Kokoschka outshine Wynter's tentative characterization of Alma. Perez is especially bright, exuding passion and artistic madness, as biographer's have depicted the painter, a pioneer in early 20th Century expressionism. Peter Verhoeven as Gropius and Gregor Seberg as Werfel seem to get ground up and we're left wondering why they were written into the script...in spite of the fact, each played a significant role in the life of Alma Schindler Mahler Gropius Werfel. Too bad, they are underutilized. And, to continue slamming the script, they are badly depicted. Gropius, the great architectural innovator of the Bauhaus was hardly the foppish Mama's boy shown in the film. And, the passionate, multi-talented Franz Werfel, author of Song of Berndadette and Forty Days at Musa Dagh, was hardly the clowning caricature presented in the film. Even the solid performance of Welsh veteran Jonathon Pryce is led astray. The driven, passionate and often neurotic Mahler, compulsively washing his hands 12 times a day was not the staid, stoic older man shown in this film. So, alas, the great subject matter has been neglected. What results is not-a-bad movie about a fascinating woman that with a bit more research, better script, and a different leading lady could have been excellent, really excellent film.

I went to this movie and I didn't really hear anything about it before and didn't know what to expect from it. I didn't even know what this film was about. All of a sudden I hear a familiar trumpet and horn melody in the opening credits and I was filled with joy. For these were the notes as composed by the late great Gustav Mahler. I quickly realized that this was going to be a film about one of my favorite composers and I was totally drawn into the film. Of course, though, this film is not about Mahler, but his wife Anna. The parts that included Gustav and Anna were wonderful. There was some honest passion going on that very few films I have seen lately have exhibited. The overall communication between the two near the end of Mahler's life was very gentle, bittersweet and very believable. Gorgeous work from Wynter and Pryce together. However the film gets considerably worst with each relationship Anna has after Mahler. Everything seems forced and rushed and consequential. It almost seems that Beresford was out to make a film about Mahler and then right in the middle of production he finds out the Mahler died much earlier than an erroneous script had told him. So he decides to make a film about a confused female 'player' who only went out with successful men before having some success of her own. Oh well. Still though I had a good time with this film. I just wish this was more of a film about Gustav Mahler than it actually was.Elendil