Woyzeck

"Shame, vengeance, terror... love."

1979 1h 22m DE

👍

6.6

SOLID

🍅

86%

FRESH

⭐

IMDB

★6.6TMDB · 209🍅86%Rotten Tomatoes★7IMDB · 10,752

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Having fathered an illegitimate child with his lover, Marie, feckless soldier Franz Woyzeck takes odd jobs around his small town to provide some extra money for them. One job is volunteering for experiments conducted by a local doctor, who puts Woyzeck on a diet of peas. This serves to drive him close to madness, and the discovery that Marie is involved in an affair with the local drum major exacerbates the situation. Pushed too far, Woyzeck resorts to violence.

“Shame, vengeance, terror... love.”

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Cast

Klaus Kinski
Friedrich Johann Franz Woyzeck
Eva Mattes
Marie
Wolfgang Reichmann
Captain
Willy Semmelrogge
Doctor
Josef Bierbichler
Drum Major
Paul Burian
Andres
Volker Prechtel
Handwerksbursche
Dieter Augustin
Marktschreier

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Werner Herzog
Writers: Werner Herzog
Languages: German
Countries: Germany

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

82 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

47 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Werner Herzog, shot by Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Klaus Kinski and Eva Mattes and Wolfgang Reichmann carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Shame, vengeance, terror... love.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0080149 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Werner Herzog directs. Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein behind the camera. Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in Germany. Dialogue in German.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

182 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
247 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
4Directed by Werner Herzog, shot by Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Editor Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Klaus Kinski and Eva Mattes and Wolfgang Reichmann carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Shame, vengeance, terror... love.".
8IMDB entry: tt0080149 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.