The Turin Horse

2011 2h 35m HU

🙌

7.6

BANGER

★7.6TMDB · 439

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A look at the monotonous daily struggle of a father and daughter in a windswept, desolate landscape. Over six days, their routine of eating boiled potatoes and tending a failing horse crumbles, symbolizing a slow descent into darkness, emptiness, and the end of existence.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

János Derzsi
Ohlsdorfer
Erika Bók
Ohlsdorfer's daughter
Mihály Kormos
Bernhard
Lajos Kovács
Bernhard (voice)
Mihály Ráday
Narrator (voice)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Béla Tarr
Writers: Béla Tarr, László Krasznahorkai
Languages: German, Hungarian
Countries: Hungary, Switzerland, France, Germany, United States of America

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

Clocks in at 155 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $1.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 16% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 15 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: German, Hungarian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 5 countries: Hungary, Switzerland, France, Germany, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Béla Tarr, shot by Fred Kelemen. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Béla Tarr directs. Fred Kelemen behind the camera. Mihály Víg scores. Ágnes Hranitzky cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in Hungary, Switzerland, France, Germany, United States of America. Dialogue in German, Hungarian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Clocks in at 155 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.
2Shot for just $1.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
3Earned back only 16% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
4Released 15 years ago.
5Dialogue crosses 2 languages: German, Hungarian.
6International production across 5 countries: Hungary, Switzerland, France, Germany, United States of America.
7Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
8Directed by Béla Tarr, shot by Fred Kelemen. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
9Original score by Mihály Víg. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
10Editor Ágnes Hranitzky shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
11János Derzsi and Erika Bók and Mihály Kormos carry the top of the cast.
12IMDB entry: tt1316540 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
13Classified under 19 themes, including "gypsy", "nihilism", "horse", "turin italy".

The technical file

Cinematography: Fred Kelemen
Original score: Mihály Víg
Editing: Ágnes Hranitzky
Production design: László Rajk
Runtime: 155 min · 2h 35m
Status: Released
Budget: $1,000,000
Box office: $162,088
Return: 16% of budget
Original language: HU
IMDB: The Turin Horse (2011)

Awards

Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Béla Tarr

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CRCulver2018-02-18
★ 10/10
In 2011 Béla Tarr, a Hungarian director who had drawn acclaim for his distinctive style of long takes à la Andrei Tarkovsky and a bleak and sardonic view of human existence, released what he stated would be his last film: THE TURIN HORSE. The film's genesis is rooted in a conversation between Tarr and the Hungarian novelist Laszlo Krasznahorkai some years before: Krasznahorkai recounted the story Friedrich Nietzsche's famous breakdown in the streets of Turin after watching a cabman cruelly beat his horse. We know, Krasznahorkai noted, that Nietzsche lived on for another decade, mute and demented, in the care of his family, but what happened to the horse? Thus the two decided to make a film, but it would not be a historical film about late 19th-century Turin. Rather, the Nietzsche story only served as an initial inspiration for a more universal drama. After an introduction spoken by a narrator that briefly tells the Nietzsche story, we are introduced to a horse and his cabman, Ohlsdorfer (János Derzsi). With much effort -- the opening take of the horse pulling the cart on the road is several minutes long -- Ohlsdorfer reaches a house and a barn in the minute of a nondescript wilderness, where a savage wind blows nonstop. His daughter (Erika Bók) appears, and the two struggle to unharness the horse and lead it into the barn as the wind howls. Immediately we see that they lived alone and in poverty. The film is divided into a series of episodes, "The First Day", "The Second Day" etc. where Ohlsdorfer and his daughter repeat the same routine: she helps Ohlsdorfer dress or undress (he is partly lame), she boils potatoes that she and Ohlsdorfer eat, piping hot, with their fingers. Yet in spite of this grinding routine, each day shows the action from a slightly different angle, and we become aware that the world in which they live is breaking down. Everything happens with a minimum of dialogue, except for two appearances by visitors to their homestead that are grim portents. The horse itself gets comparatively little screen time, but is such a potent symbol that it does feel like, as Tarr calls it in the film's credits, the "main role". THE TURIN HORSE is shot in only 30 takes by cinematographer Fred Kelemen; considering the film is 2 hours 35 minutes long, that means an average shot length of 5 minutes. Tarr's visual aesthetic of very long takes is not for everyone, but if you surrender to its hypnotic effect, it can be very powerful. The slow pace puts the viewer into a hyper-aware state where you are familiarized with the most minute details of the set, some of which will later prove important in the action, while others are simply distinct and memorable quirks. It is this elevating of the stage set to nearly a character in itself that is one of Tarr's major innovations. The bleakness of Tarr and Krasznahorkai's vision is not completely oppressive. You might find some humour here, even if it is the blackest humour imaginable. THE TURIN HORSE can be readily compared to the more austere plays of Samuel Beckett which reveal human existence to be absurd, but lampoon attempts at philosophy or personal foibles in ways that can make one grimly chuckle. This sort of film isn't for everyone. Needless to say, if you like movies as simple entertainment and don't go for "arthouse" efforts, then you should steer clear of this. For more open-minded cinephiles, I'd recommend seeing the work of Andrei Tarkovsky first before you decide to go on to the even more extreme aesthetic of Tarr. But I personally found this (like a few of Tarr's prior efforts) to be a very moving experience, one that I am sure I will repeat from time to time over the years. The visual poetry of THE TURIN HORSE is incredible.

Production companies