Erasmus Montanus Eller Jorden Er Flad
Synopsis
« Erasmus Montanus » is a play by Ludvig Holberg (1684-1754), the Molière of the Baltic region. Inspired by the italian theater, he became the father of the russian and scandinavian drama. Classic theater is often badly treated. Either it is played in a heavy « naturalistic » way, or it is overloaded with « significance » conforming to the latest intellectual fashion, exactly what our Erasmus would have done, had he been a modern director. In our case, it is the theater (the film) that takes hold of Erasmus, worthy member of that « tribe of intellectuals « who believes in the importance of cutting themselves off from reality. When Henrik Strangerup tackles Erasmus, it is in order to marry the play with reality. He took away the play from its native country and brought it to Brazil, taking thus the risk of a cultural mixing that gave it back its original import, blood and flesh. Swift bodies and new voices have invaded the architecture of Holberg with « commedia dell’arte ». A long journey brought Holberg back to himself, Brazil exposed the « intellectual » in all its exotism, leaving the spectator enchanted with this tale about things being round and theories being flat. Michel DELAHAYE
Director
Henrik Stangerup, 1937-98, pursued a versatile career as novelist, journalist, essayist and film director. His first novel, Slangen i brystet (1969, Snake in the Heart), influenced by the neo-realistic trend of the time, is about a Danish journalist who goes off the rails in Paris. In the 1970s his novels took a turn towards polemic social comment. Løgn over løgn (1971, Lie upon Lie) is a confrontation with the ascetic Puritanism which according to Stangerup characterised the cultural left wing of the day. Manden der ville være skyldig (1973, The Man Who Wanted to Be Guilty) is an attack on the welfare state from an existentialist perspective. Fjenden i forkøbet (1978, Forestalling the Enemy) is an autobiographical novel which, with great openness, recounts artistic and personal crises in the author’s life. In the following years Stangerup wrote his principal work, a trilogy of historical novels inspired by Søren Kierkegaard’s ideas about the aesthetic, ethical and religious man. Vejen til Lagoa Santa (1981, The Road to Lagoa Santa) is about the ethicist, the Danish 19th century naturalist P.W. Lund, who turned his back on European civilisation and settled in Brazil. The protagonist of Det er svært at dø i Dieppe (1985, The Seducer : It is Hard to Die in Dieppe) is the aesthete and critic P.L. Møller, who lived a dissolute life in Paris in the 1850s. Finally the religious stage is represented by the title character of Broder Jacob (1991, Brother Jacob), a Danish Franciscan driven into exile by the Reformation. He ends up as a missionary and fearless spokesman for the Indian population. The trilogy gave expression to Stangerup’s criticism of Danish Puritanism in a colourful epic of international perspective and format. Stangerup’s films are inspired by French culture, with which he became thoroughly familiar during several protracted sojourns in the country. The most original is Jorden er flad (1977, The Earth is Flat), which transplants the action in Ludvig Holberg’s comedy Erasmus Montanus (published 1731) to 17th century Brazil. As interpreted by Stangerup, the story of the arrogant peasant student who returns to his destitute childhood environment becomes a universally valid account of the intellegentsia’s betrayal of the people from which they spring. Like his novels and films, Stangerup’s extensive essay writing also testifies to his international outlook and uncompromising attitude towards intellectual conformity of every kind. But the essays, which are collected for instance in I flugtens tegn (1993, Flight is the Order of the Day), also include penetrating characterisations of countrymen such as Kierkegaard, the man of letters Georg Brandes and film director Carl Th. Dreyer – men who, like the protagonists in Stangerup’s novels, were too distinctive and intractable to fit into the cultural pattern of their day.
Fausto Wolff
Gloria Cristall
Lucia Mello
Paulo Fortes
Wilson Grey
Screenplay
Fausto Wolff, Henrik Stangerup d’après la pièce de Ludvig Holberg
Editing
Hilde Lochen Trier
Music
Jurij Moskvitin
Production design
Erik Bottzauw
Production : Henrik Stangerup, Thorkid Kristensen, Stig Bjorkman
Title in Original Version : Erasmus Montanus Ou La Terre Est Plate