Out of Africa (1985)

Regisseur:

Sydney Pollack

Drehbuchautoren:

Karen Blixen (books)
Judith Thurman (book)

Premierendatum:

18. Dezember 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Biographie | Drama | Romanze

Werbezeile:

Based on a true story.

Plot:

In 20th century colonial Kenya, a Danish baroness/plantation owner has a passionate but ultimately doomed love affair with a free-sprited big-game hunter.

Plot Keywords:

Male Female Relationship | Reflection | Gigolo | Atmospheric | Culture Clash

Filmpreise:

Won 7 Oscars. Another 22 wins & 17 nominations

Nutzerkommentare:

A Good Woman In Africa

Besetzung

Meryl Streep	...	Karen Blixen
Robert Redford	...	Denys Finch Hatton
Klaus Maria Brandauer	...	Bror Blixen / Hans Blixen
Michael Kitchen	...	Berkeley Cole
Malick Bowens	...	Farah
Joseph Thiaka	...	Kamante
Stephen Kinyanjui	...	Kinanjui
Michael Gough	...	Lord Delamere
Suzanna Hamilton	...	Felicity
Rachel Kempson	...	Lady Belfield
Graham Crowden	...	Lord Belfield
Leslie Phillips	...	Sir Joseph
Mike Bugara	...	Juma
Shane Rimmer	...	Belknap, farm manager
Job Seda	...	Kanuthia

Alternativ:

Jenseits von Afrika (Österreich) (Bundesrepublik Deutschland) [de]

Länge:

150 Min | USA:160 Min (TCM print)

Produktionsland:

USA

Sprache:

Englisch | Swahili

Farbe:

Farbe (Rankcolor)

Seitenverhältnis:

1.85 : 1

Tonverfahren:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Altersfreigabe:

South Korea:12 | Iceland:L | Portugal:M/12 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:M | Chile:TE | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Norway:11 | Spain:T | Sweden:Btl | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:12 | Singapore:PG

Drehorte:

England, UK

Firma:

Mirage Entertainment

Dies und das:

The scenes set in a wintry Denmark were actually filmed in Northern England.

Pannen:

Abfolgefehler: When Karen is about to shoot the lion, she has blood on the right side of her mouth from biting her lip. Afterwards, when Denys wipes her mouth, the blood is on the left side.

Dialogzitate:

Karen Blixen: [Voiceover] I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills. The Equator runs across these highlands, a hundred miles to the north, and the farm lay at an altitude of over six thousand feet. In the day-time you felt that you had got high up; near to the sun, but the early mornings and evenings were limpid and restful, and the nights were cold.

Bezüge zu anderen Titeln:

Verweis/Anspielung/Erwähnung in Standing on the Shoulders of Kubrick: The Legacy of 2001 (2007) (V)

Soundtrack:

Concerto for clarinet and orchestra in A (K.622)

A Good Woman In Africa

This is an overlong film derived from Isak Dinesen's memoirs of running a coffee plantation in Kenya in the early years of the twentieth century. The book is a different kettle of fish altogether, but I won't go into that. Sydney Pollock does a fine job of directing here, but in a way the movie is almost overproduced. There was, it seems, so much time and money to play with that the film drags an awful lot. Kurt Luedtke's script is laconic in the Hemingway manner, and very smart, though some of the ultra-sophisticated one-liners began to irritate me after a while. Pollock has a fine dramatic instinct and I wish that there was more drama in this film for him to lavish his talent on. The location shooting is superb, and the depiction of home and village life in colonial Africa is nicely done. I find the romance between Dinesen (called by her real name, Baroness Karen Blixen) and aviator-adventurer Denis Finch-Hatton, less than compelling, partly because, as the latter, Robert Redford refuses to use a British accent, which gives the movie a Hollywood feel, not a bad thing in itself, but the film was made in Africa, with a mostly British cast, and Meryl Streep as Blixen uses an impeccable Danish accent, which makes Redford seem like a fish out of water. This is bothersome because in many ways Redford is well cast in the role, thus his American diction seems like sheer willfulness on his part, which it probably was. Streep is fine in her role, and is especially good in her grand dame moments, as lady of the manor.

There are some worthwhile incidental pleasures in this film. John Barry's fine score is perfect for the material, and really soars near the end, appropriately I imagine since one of the two main characters is an aviator. In supporting roles, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Michael Kitchen, Suzanna Hamilton and Michael Gough work small wonders. The use of Mozart, while true to life, makes this post-Amadeus film seem already like a period piece; the period being the 1980's. Mozart was all the rage in those days. His great music is, however, non- if not anti-emotional, and it's odd that it was used so often in the movie. The effect of the music is somewhat intimidating in the context of the romance at the center of the film, as it doesn't suit at all what's happening on screen, which can't help but make the viewer think that perhaps he's missing something; or maybe the film is just too smart for him. This is, again, a very eighties sort of feeling, of the sort of one gets from watching Chariots Of Fire, or listening to the music David Byrne and Laurie Anderson.