Artists Under the Big Top: Perplexed explained

Artists Under the Big Top: Perplexed
Director:	Alexander Kluge
Starring:	Hannelore Hoger
Runtime:	104 minutes
Country:	West Germany
Language:	German

Artists in the Big Top: Perplexed (German: '''Die Artisten in der Zirkuskuppel: Ratlos''') is a 1968 West German film written and directed by Alexander Kluge. The film is made in a collage style, featuring newsreels and quotations from philosophers alongside the story of a failing circus whose owner, Leni (Hannelore Hoger), must decide whether her dream of a new kind of circus is too optimistic. The film is a symbolic representation of Kluge's own frustrations in trying to help stimulate the New German Cinema movement.^[1]

Cast

• Hannelore Hoger as Leni Peickert
• Sigi Graue as Manfred Peickert (as Siegfried Graue)
• as Dr. Busch
• Bernd Höltz as Herr von Lueptow
• Eva Oertel as Gitti Bornemann
• Kurt Jürgens as Mackensen, Dompteur
• Gilbert Houcke as Houke, Dompteur
• Wanda Bronska-Pampuch as Frau Saizewa
• Herr Jobst as Impresario
• Hans-Ludger Schneider as Assessor Korti
• Klaus Schwarzkopf as Gerloff, Philologe

Awards

The film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. The film was also selected as the West German entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 41st Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.^[2]

See also

• List of submissions to the 41st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
• List of German submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

Notes and References

1. David Bordwell and Kriston Thompson, Film History: An Introduction, 2e (McGraw Hill, 2003), p. 573.
2. Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences