Prospero's Books (1991)
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67% of critics liked it
(24 reviews) -
84% of users liked it
(3,885 ratings)
Puzzle-master Peter Greenaway exposes another aspect of his peculiar obsessions to the filmgoing public. Prospero's Books uses Shakespeare as a foundation and then skips along to define its own lush territory. The books of the title are briefly referenced in The Tempest -- Prospero is a magician… More Puzzle-master Peter Greenaway exposes another aspect of his peculiar obsessions to the filmgoing public. Prospero's Books uses Shakespeare as a foundation and then skips along to define its own lush territory. The books of the title are briefly referenced in The Tempest -- Prospero is a magician who gets to keep only a small fragment of his enormous library when he is exiled with his daughter to an enchanted island. In the film, Prospero is played by Sir John Gielgud. Indeed, everybody is voiced by Gielgud as he describes the events that unfold. But mostly, he describes the books, and as he does, the screen fills with florid calligraphies, astonishing diagrams, extravagant paintings, and lots and lots of naked people. ~ John Voorhees, Rovi
- Directed By
- Peter Greenaway
- Written By
- William Shakespeare, Peter Greenaway
- Genres
- Drama, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Special Interest
R,
- In Theaters
- Sep 28, 1991 Wide
Critic Reviews
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Variety Staff, Variety
The product of a feverish, overflowing imagination, this almost impossibly dense take on The Tempest displays both the director's audacious brilliance and lewd extravagance at full tilt.
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Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Gone is any sense of drama or character; the cluttered spectacle yields no overriding design but simply disconnected MTV-like conceits or mini-ideas every three seconds.
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Geoff Andrew, Time Out
To some degree, the relentless proliferation of ideas smothers the dramatic highs and lows, but this is a minor quibble compared to the sheer ambition and audacity of the overall conception.
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Vincent Canby, New York Times
Greenaway is not a frivolous film maker. He doesn't shoot a lot of material with the expectation of stumbling upon a found object within. His films are planned from the first frame to the last.
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Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Greenaway bombards you with images, with no regard for the average attention span. Is he a genius or a fake? Debating that question is almost as stimulating as watching a Greenaway film.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
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Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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John Gielgud
as Prospero
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Michael Clark
as Caliban
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Michel Blanc
as Alonso
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Erland Josephson
as Gonzalo
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Isabelle Pasco
as Miranda
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Tom Bell
as Antonio
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Kenneth Cranham
as Sebastian
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Mark Rylance
as Ferdinand
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Gerard Thoolen
as Adrian
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Pierre Bokma
as Francisco
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Jim van der Woude
as Trinculo
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Michiel Romeyn
as Stephano
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Orpheo
as Ariel
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Russell Paul Batty
as Ariel
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James Thierree
as Ariel
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Emil Wolk
as Ariel
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Marie Angel
as Iris
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Deborah Conway
as Juno
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Ute Lemper
as Cory
- Kris Niklison
