Bride of the Wind (2001)

11% of critics liked it
(64 reviews)
39% of users liked it
(976 ratings)

Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy) delivers this fact-based drama about one of the most fascinating private lives of the 20th century. Alma Schindler (Sarah Wynter) was one of the most renowned young beauties in turn-of-the-century Vienna, sought after as a romantic conquest by some of the most… More Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy) delivers this fact-based drama about one of the most fascinating private lives of the 20th century. Alma Schindler (Sarah Wynter) was one of the most renowned young beauties in turn-of-the-century Vienna, sought after as a romantic conquest by some of the most famous men in the city, including the artist Gustav Klimt (August Schmolzer). She is won, however, by the most challenging and enigmatic artistic figure of them all, composer/conductor Gustav Mahler (Jonathan Pryce). His one demand is that she give up her own aspirations as a composer, which she has nursed for years. She agrees, and their marriage proves to be a devoted yet loveless union, producing two children but leaving Alma bereft of affection. She suppresses her frustrations as her husband's star rises, sublimating her ambitions completely. His career advances yield extraordinary music but equally notable controversies, and the marriage is riven by stress. When their oldest daughter dies, Alma's health is broken. While convalescing at a sanitarium, she meets another patient, Walter Gropius (Simon Verhoeven). He is gentle and attentive, and they begin an affair, which her husband accidentally learns of later. Their marriage survives, but Mahler also knows that he is a doomed man because of a damaged heart. After his death, Alma Mahler marries Gropius, an ambitious young architect with revolutionary ideas. Their marriage lasts but a few years, for Alma is drawn to another man, the artist Oskar Kokoschka (Vincent Perez). Kokoschka is young, iconoclastic, and daring -- all of the things that the career- and status-oriented Gropius isn't. Their affair yields a renowned painting of Alma that Kokoschka calls Bride of the Wind, a depiction of their passion amid a storm-swept background. They also conceive a child that Alma decides not to carry to term. She returns to Gropius for a time, while Kokoschka sells the painting for enough money to buy a commission in the army, and he is reported killed in action during World War I. Finally, after leaving Gropius, Alma meets a gifted author, Franz Werfel (Gregor Seberg), whom she marries. Her past catches up with her in an odd way, however, when Kokoschka returns, having survived the war and captivity -- he is still obsessed with Alma, to the point that he walks around Vienna in the company of a life-size doll of her, which he destroys in a fit of anger one night at a party. Meanwhile, in Alma's life with Franz Werfel, she finally finds peace and fulfillment, even as a composer -- the movie ends with a 1925 recital at which soprano Frances Alda (Renee Fleming) performed Alma Mahler Werfel's songs. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 39 min.
Directed By: Bruce Beresford
Written By: Marylin Levy
Genres: Musical & Performing Arts, Drama

In Theaters: Jun 8, 2001 Wide
On DVD: Nov 13, 2001
Studio: Paramount Classics

Critic Reviews

Lisa Alspector, Chicago Reader
Alma Mahler is flirting again.
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail
An often silly and oddly tepid biopic from director Bruce Beresford.
Peter Rainer, New York Magazine
As Sarah Wynter plays Alma, it's difficult to see what all the hue and cry was about.
Jane Sumner, Dallas Morning News
Watching it is like walking, walking, walking down a never-ending aisle.
Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel
The filmmakers' limited notions of genius, simple humanity and, probably, feminism seem to have defeated everyone involved.
Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle
Levy's bloodless screenplay runs dutifully through Alma's life as though ticking off the points against a checklist.
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com
Sarah Wynter doesn't quite have the chops, Bruce Beresford doesn't quite have the heart, and the audience probably doesn't have anywhere near the level of interest.
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Never successfully answers what Alma Schindler had that drew composer Gustav Mahler, architect Walter Gropius, writer Franz Werfel, and painter Oskar Kokoschka to her.
Marrit Ingman, Austin Chronicle
Beresford and his screenwriter, Marilyn Levy, have a wealth of compelling material at their disposal. But somehow the film doesn't quite cohere.
Jean Lowerison, San Diego Metropolitan
Beresford has picked a terrific cast to tell this story.
Scott Weinberg, eFilmCritic.com
If this movie is any evidence of Alma's true persona, I'd contend that the miserable gal never deserved her own bio-pic in the first place.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Bride of the Wind is burdened with a wooden story and characterizations.
Jules Brenner, Cinema Signals
As in most film biographies, we suffer from lack of understanding of the motivating forces behind the events of the person's life.
Brian Webster, Apollo Guide
It's just another attractive costume drama, with a few sexy scenes thrown in for spice, and a classical music setting that qualifies this as another difficult-to-market artsy film.
Jeff Vice, Deseret News, Salt Lake City
Incredibly superficial and clinically icy, with characters who act so aloof that it's hard to care about what happens to them.
Susan Granger, www.susangranger.com
"Remember Sharon Stone in 'The Muse?' Alma Schindler assumes that role in early 20th-century Vienna in this glossy but floundering drama."
Jack Garner, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Wynter's portrayal is flat and unconvincing.
Duane Dudek, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
It seems merely a cardboard copy of a fertile and febrile time.
Melinda Bargreen, Seattle Times
The turgid Marilyn Levy screenplay ... induced giggles at the screening.

Read all 19 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

No Featured Audience Ratings Found…

Cast

Sarah Wynter
as Alma Schindler Mahler
Jonathan Pryce
as Gustav Mahler
Vincent Perez
as Oskar Kokaschka

Gregor Seberg
as Franz Werfel
Simon Verhoeven
as Walter Gropius
August Schmölzer
as Gustav Klimt

See full cast

Now you can share movies with your friends on Facebook!

Discover movies your friends are watching
Keep track of what you want to see
Add your reviews to your Timeline

Get Started