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Wittgenstein (film)

Wittgenstein is a 1993 experimental comedy-drama film co-written and directed by Derek Jarman, and produced by Tariq Ali. An international co-production of the United Kingdom and Japan, the film is loosely based on the life story, as well as the philosophical thinking of philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. The adult Wittgenstein is played by Karl Johnson.

Wittgenstein

Derek Jarman

  • Derek Jarman
  • Terry Eagleton
  • Ken Butler

Tariq Ali

James Welland

Budge Tremlett

Jan Latham-Koenig[1]

  • BFI Productions (United Kingdom)[2]
  • Uplink (Japan)

  • 16 February 1993 (1993-02-16) (Berlin)
  • 26 March 1993 (1993-03-26) (United Kingdom)
  • 26 March 1994 (1994-03-26) (Japan)

72 minutes[2]

  • United Kingdom
  • Japan

  • English
  • Russian

£300,000 ($450,000)[1]

$40,029[3]

The original screenplay by literary critic Terry Eagleton was heavily rewritten during pre-production and shooting by Jarman, radically altering the style and structure, although retaining much of Eagleton's dialogue. The story is not played out in a traditional setting, but rather against a black backdrop within which the actors and key props are placed, as if in a theatre setting.


The film was originally part of a series of 12 films on the life and ideas of philosophers, produced by Ali on behalf of Channel Four. Only four of the scripts got commissioned: Socrates by Howard Brenton, Spinoza by Ali, Locke by David Edgar and Wittgenstein by Eagleton. Spinoza was filmed and directed by Chris Spencer as Spinoza : The Apostle of Reason. Citizen Locke was filmed and directed by Agnieszka Piotrowska. These were broadcast in 1994 as 52-minute television films.[4]

Plot[edit]

The film, in a series of sketches, depicts Wittgenstein's life from boyhood, through the first World War period to his Cambridge professorship and association with Bertrand Russell and John Maynard Keynes. The emphasis is on the exposition of his ideas and depicts his characteristics as a homosexual, an intuitive, moody, proud, and perfectionistic thinker, and a genius.

as young Wittgenstein

Clancy Chassay

as adult Wittgenstein

Karl Johnson

as Martian

Nabil Shaban

as Bertrand Russell

Michael Gough

as Lady Ottoline Morrell[5]

Tilda Swinton

as Maynard Keynes

John Quentin

as Johnny

Kevin Collins

as Lydia Lopokova

Lynn Seymour

(1993). Wittgenstein: The Terry Eagleton Script, The Derek Jarman Film. London, England: British Film Institute, pp. 151. ISBN 978-0-85170-397-8

Eagleton, Terry

for best feature film, 1993[6]

Teddy Award

Reception[edit]

Critical reception for the film has been generally positive and the movie holds a rating of 83% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 6 reviews.[7] Derek Elley of Variety described it as an "immaculately lensed, intellectual joke" with a "gay subtext".[1]


It opened the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival and grossed a house record £7,210 in its first 3 days at the ICA in London.[8]

List of avant-garde films of the 1990s

at IMDb

Wittgenstein

at AllMovie

Wittgenstein

at Rotten Tomatoes

Wittgenstein