So what happened to Janos in the end? I can understand that everything else in the film could be interpreted as symbolism, but it really puzzles me how the story ended for the protagonist. Thoughts, please?
shareI was thinking the same thing
shareI think that he lost his mind the moment, he seen the helicopter circleing around him in the air. He was the sun, and lost his lightness, fallen into his own idealism, and bleeding in the heart, maybe forever, maybe just for a while.
shareAny other thoughts? I've been wondering the same thing. I'm not sure how to interpret his presence in the asylum or the words spoken to him by Gyuri.
shareHaven't seen it in almost two years, and I was initially confused myself, but I believe Hanna Schygulla told Janos that he was on a watch list or enemies list, so that helicopter was there to arrest him. Why he ended up in the insane asylum could be because he had a nervous breakdown b/c of the horrible things he saw in the hospital and the chaos that was going on in the city. Again, haven't seen it in a while, but that's my interpretation.
shareI agree with what you said but I was just wondering if his breakdown represented something deeper...metaphorically. Also, after much discussion of the symbolism in the movie, what did Janos' character symbolize? Was he merely an observer with a deeper understanding of his surroundings than the other people in the town?
shareI always thought Janos was the solid ground of sanity and harmony. He creates disharmony in the first scene by staging the eclipse and therefore has a control over certain aspects in life. More than other people that are rules by the Prince for example. He is a model citizen that does not judge and we relate to him as the viewers.
He does eventually lose his mind but that is a more difficult interpretation and many meanings can be extrapolated.
There is the theme concerning God and how Janos ultimately loses faith and determines that his God, whom has created the planets and giant whale that he raves about, has disappeared.
At the end, I almost saw the helicopter as God, swooping down from the sky and hovering nearby to him. Of course, the army/police make appearances in these final sequences, but the helicopter makes no contact and shows no face, so I could only see it as a God-like figure, and if that is so, perhaps Janos went crazy from meeting God face-to-face.
Thoughts?
I was instantly reminded of Prince Myshkin by Janos. Myshkin is the protagonist of Fyodor Dostoevky's The Idiot (1868). A man whom others see as an idiot but the reader sees as a genious - a fool with heart. But of course there is so much more in it.
Here's what Robert Bresson said about his film The Devil, Probably (1977). Bresson has had a strong influence on the aesthetic on Tarr but other kind of references can be seen as well; The Turin Horse and Au hasard Balthazar, for instance. Anyways, I think what Bresson said about his film quite well fits Werckmeister Harmonies.
"I was forced to make this film because of all the mess we've done out of everything. This mass-culture where individual no longer exists. This enormous destruction, mad indoctrination. The unbelievable disregard of man, except for some clairvoyant youth."
Bresson was a Catholic and there is a lot of religious symbolism and allegories in his films too. I love these both masters, and I'm an atheist.
[deleted]