Anselm

2023 [GERMAN]

Action / Documentary

6
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 98% · 55 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 81%
IMDb Rating 7.2/10 10 2161 2.2K

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Plot summary

This unique cinematic experience dives deep into an artist’s work and reveals his life path, inspiration, and creative process. It explores his fascination with myth and history. Past and present are interwoven to diffuse the line between film and painting, allowing the audience to be completely immersed in the remarkable world of one of the greatest contemporary artists, Anselm Kiefer. Wim Wenders shot this unique portrait over the course of two years in stunning 3D.

Director

Wim Wenders Photo
Wim Wenders

Top cast

Joseph Beuys Photo
Joseph Beuys as Self
Martin Heidegger Photo
Martin Heidegger as Self
Anselm Kiefer Photo
Anselm Kiefer as Anselm
Daniel Kiefer Photo
Daniel Kiefer as Anselm
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
862.21 MB
1080*720
German 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 33 min
Seeds 5
1.73 GB
1620*1080
German 5.1
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 33 min
Seeds 13

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by dromasca 8 / 10

the encounter of two great artists

Wim Wenders is one of the greatest German filmmakers alive, if not the greatest. Anselm Kiefer is one of the greatest German artists, if not the greatest. Both will turn 80 in 2025. The meeting between the two takes place in 'Anselm', the documentary film about Kiefer that Wenders made in 2023.The categorization as a documentary is very approximate. It is not a documentary or a classic biographical film, nor even a film with and about ordinary art. It is rather a poem written with the artistic means of cinema, which Wim Wenders dedicates to Anselm Kiefer, with his participation. If a term of comparison is needed, it would be 'Pina', the film that Wenders dedicated in 2011 to the choreographer Pina Bausch, to her life, work and the institution she founded. Using the same technique of 3D imaging, the filmmaker introduces us to the world created by the artist. And this is not an easy world to live in, to understand, to accept. Anselm Kiefer (like Wenders, for that matter) was born and raised in the ruins of defeated Germany, he grew up and was educated among people who not only tried to forget but also to repress feelings of responsibility - individual and collective - for what happened during the war and especially for the Holocaust. The dialogues with the artist (when he is alive) in the usual biographical documentaries and the flash-backs in fictional cinematic biographies are replaced in 'Anselm' with the artist's works from the different periods of his life. However, Anselm Kiefer's works have not been spared of controversy, starting with his provocative debuts in which he tried through the means of art (photography in that case) to awaken from lethargy a Germany that was complacent in oblivion. Alongside Kiefer, his son and grandson appear, embodying the artist at early ages in his biography. The soundtrack is dominated by the reading of several poems by Paul Celan, the German-speaking Jewish poet born in Czernowitz, a Holocaust survivor who put into words better than anyone the struggle of the artist trying to create something after the Holocaust. I don't know how many of the film's viewers know Celan or are aware that he committed suicide in Paris in 1970.Visually, the film is impressive and monumental, as are many of Kiefer's works. The color palette is that of his works, and the 3D technology transports the viewers inside them. It is no coincidence, I think, that many of Kiefer's paintings, even when they have a rectangular frame, have relief and a third dimension. In a few sequences we see at work the artist who has been creating in huge ateliers since the 80s - former industrial spaces or hangars where his gigantic works can be created and housed. Watching the film 'Anselm' was for me an opportunity to get to know in more depth an artist whom I have been following and appreciating for many years. I think that most viewers who already know Anselm Kiefer will have similar feelings. Those who are not familiar with the artist and his work should, however, I think, do a minimum of research before watching this film, in order to better appreciate the art of Kiefer and that of Wim Wenders.
Reviewed by christian94 8 / 10

Wenders' Genius and Kiefer's Craft (& Challenging Curiodity)

Win Wenders is a German filmmaker with a prolific career of decades of daring features as well as acclaimed documentaries. Wender has been nominated 3 times for the Best Documentary Features Oscar: Buena Vista Social Club (1999), Pina (2011) and Salt of the Earth (2014). They are progressively better and the last one of the three should have won. It is one of the best docs I have ever seen. This new doc is not as good as the last, but worth a serious watch. It could have been nominated for its thematic exploration and better than Buena Vista Social Club in my eye. Maybe it got overlooked because it is not as perfect as Perfect Days (2023), his feature film of the same year which got Best ForeignInstead of doing focused biographies of musicians, a dancer and a photographer, Wender examines with Anselm a visual and fine art (plastic art) icon who grew from drawings, paintings, photos to sculptures and massive productions. Anselm Keifer moved from and eventually bought bigger and bigger workshops to accomodate ambitious projects with over 40 assistants.The art shines, especially in the controversial photography series with the Nazi salute to put a mirror in front of the German amnesia The movie shines with its well planned cinematography and the storytelling, including the writing that hits it stride in the last 20 minutes. The beginning is bogged down by Paul Celan's lackluster poetry and perhaps a lack of focus and fluid momentum.If Celan's work was certainly a strong influence for Keifer, it did not translate well in the movie. I would have preferred another construct or toget more personal,including exploring family like in The Salt of the Earth. Keifer has 5 children and 2 ex-wives who are never mentioned for instance, yet it may be for lack of permission of people or because of the strong contrast between young, older and present day Anselm that might have been affected by other actors and taking away from the artistic pursuit focus.. in the end,it comes with a solid dose of solitude.The Unbearable Lightness of Being as Milan Knndera influences Keifer better than Celan. The inevitability of death looms with the unending creation and curiosity, Besides a few less suitable cues, this movies shines in the end with a strong vision, message, execution, contemplation, creativity and details.Symbolism is strong. Brilliant connectors are many. Think also that Wenders and Keifer are born in the same year (1945) and same country. They both started their world-renown art in the early 1970s and are as dedicated to it over fifty years later. Parallel worlds like the 3 Anselms.
Reviewed by azovaneuh 6 / 10

Perhaps my expectations were too high

Hat Heidegger or Celan had on his work was also not really clear to me. As an art movie: it was mainly Kiefer who strolled through his own studio and exhibitions. All in all, it seemed a bit too much like a made-to-order promotional film to me. The photography and editing were of course beautiful, but in terms of content the entire film was rather mediocre, while you could expect a bit more experimentation. The last part about Venice gave the impression that Wenders was thinking: I only have 75 minutes of material left and I need 90. Perhaps my expectations were too high for this collaboration between a director and an artist whom I both greatly appreciate.

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