Der Tod des Empedokles (1987)
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Directors
Jean-Marie Straub, Daniele Huillet
Cast
Andreas von Rauch, Vladimir Baratta, Howard Vernon, Martina Barrata, Ute Cremer
A governor and high priest demand Empedocles’ exile, jealous of his influence over the people.
The story
In Agrigentum, governor Critias and high priest Hermocrates grow jealous of Empedocles’ influence over the people and demand that he be exiled.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
This is an adaptation of Hölderlin’s drama *Der Tod des Empedokles*, a classic of German literature. Critias, governor of Agrigentum, and Hermocrates, the high priest, jealous of Empedocles’ influence over the people, demand the exile of the troublemaker. Driven out, Empedocles asks the people of Agrigentum to spare his young disciple Pausanius, and advises Critias to take his daughter away from a city where she will never be happy. He frees his slaves. Seeing this, Critias and the people renounce Hermocrates and beg Empedocles to become their king. Empedocles replies that the time of kings is over, and urges them to take their own destiny into their hands by trusting in Nature. As for him, now too old, the time has come for purification, and he sets off to throw himself into Mount Etna’s crater.
Genres
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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