Audaciously eccentric even by Herzog’s standards – the cast are under hypnosis throughout – but far from impenetrable as it relates the fable of a community falling apart when a formula for making the glass on which the economy depends is lost with the death of the factory owner. The acting is memorably intense, the imagery evocative of German Romantic painting, the whole mesmerisingly beautiful.

Duration:
94 minutes

Country of origin:
West Germany

Year of production:
1976