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CANTO 6

By Peter Greenaway and Tom Phillips

Peter Greenaway gained international recognition for his screenplay and direction of The Draughtsman's Contract. He has long been established as one of Britain's most innovative film makers, with features such as A Zed and Two Noughts and The Belly of an Architect and The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover. His film, Drowning by Numbers, won the prize for Best Artistic Contribution at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival. Prospero's Books, released in the UK in 1991, won wide critical acclaim. It was his association with the late Sir John Gielgud in the making of A TV Dante which led to Sir John starring in this film, Greenaway's version of The Tempest
It was the artist Tom Phillips’ published translation of the work, which he illustrated with 139 of his own images, that inspired Peter Greenaway to embark on a collaboration with him to create an ambitious video equivalent of his work, using all the resources currently available to the electronic media – the first comprehensive treatment of the text in moving images.
The first eight cantos, produced by Greenaway and Phillips, are not conventionally dramatised, rather they are illuminated with layered and juxtaposed imagery that comments, counterpoints and elucidates. Visual footnotes, which explain the many references, symbols and allusions in Dante’s work and are delivered by appropriate authorities, are an integral part of the videos and sometimes perform the function of commentary as well as that of illustration. Narration of the text (in Phillips’ translation) is delivered by Sir John Gielgud as Virgil, Bob Peck as Dante and Joanne Whalley-Kilmer as Beatrice. Greenaway’s and Phillips’ concept has been described as creating “a thinking person’s pop video”. The multi-layered images conjure up a contemporary vision of Dante’s Hell – a vast bureaucracy, conceived in the light of two world wars and today’s newspaper headlines. They achieve a startling and unique contemporary relevance as well as exploring Dante’s text.
Tom Phillips is a painter of international reputation, whose work is represented in most European museums and widely in the USA. He is a member of the Royal Academy but is perhaps best known for his work in the field of the artist’s book through such pioneering examples of visual poetry as A Humument. He has had some success also as a composer (his opera Irma has been frequently produced and twice recorded) and is a highly regarded writer on art. His massive illustrated version of Dante’s Inferno was the subject of critical acclaim.

CANTO VI: On his recovery, the poet finds himself in the third circle, where the gluttonous are punished. Their punishment is to lie in the mire, under a continual and heavy storm of hail, snow and discoloured water, with Cerebus barking over them with his threefold throat and rending them piecemeal. One of these, who on Earth was named Ciacco, foretells the divisions with which Florence is about to be distracted. Dante proposes a question to his guide, who solves it; and they proceed towards the fourth circle.

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Cast: Sir John Gielgud,Bob Peck and Joanne Whalley-Kilmer
Producer(s): Peter Greenaway and Tom Phillips
Director(s): Peter Greenaway
Format: Colour
Region: All
Classification: 18
Running Time: 10 mins
Studio: RM Associates
Download Size: 64.22 MB

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