Queen of the Desert is an American biopic drama epic biography of 2015 written and directed by Werner Herzog and based on the lives of travelers, writers, archaeologists, explorers, British mappers and political officers Gertrude Bell. The film follows Bell's life chronologically, from the early twenties to his death. This is Herzog's first film in six years after his 2009 film My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?
The film stars Nicole Kidman, James Franco, Damian Lewis and Robert Pattinson. After many delays and casting problems, the production ends from December 2013 to March 2014 in Morocco, Jordan and the UK. It was screened in the main competition section of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival and held its inaugural show on February 6, 2015. There was a theatrical release in Germany on September 3, 2015. It is scheduled to be released in a limited release and via video on demand on April 14, 2017, by IFC Films.
The film received most of the negative reviews from critics and was also a major financial disappointment, the top-selling $ 2 million against a $ 36 million production budget.
Video Queen of the Desert (film)
Premise
Gertrude Bell, a daughter of wealthy British parents, has no interest in the social life of the London elite. Balls, receptions, and privileged lives bring only boredom. Aspiring for several uses in his life, Gertrude decided to join his uncle who occupies a high diplomatic position in Tehran. There, the young woman not only met with the Near East but also fell in love with an embassy official, Henry Cadogan. However, their love story did not last long because their parents thought the young man was a bad wedding choice for their daughter and banned marriage. Desperate, Henry committed suicide, failing to reconcile himself with forced separation. For the rest of his life, Gertrude Bell really devoted himself to exploring and writing about the Near East.
Maps Queen of the Desert (film)
Cast
Production
Casting
Speaking of the difficulty of casting and delay in film shooting, Herzog said, "There are some actors I really want to play in the movie and it's a problem to put them in the same place at the same time." Naomi Watts was originally cast in Gertrude Bell but was later replaced by Nicole Kidman. Kidman, speaking of her role, said, "She is a Lawrence woman in Arabia who is an Englishman and basically defines the current border between Iraq and Jordan, bordering on her negotiating between Churchill and the different Arab leaders. with the Bedouin tribe and all the hostile tribes at the turn of the 20th century. "Jude Law originally played a role in Henry Cadogan's role but then came out due to scheduling conflicts and was replaced by James Franco.
Robert Pattinson and Damian Lewis joined the cast as T. E. Lawrence and Charles Doughty-Wylie, respectively. In the casting of Pattinson in the film, Herzog said that "I need an Englishman who still looks like a schoolboy but a very clever one." He plays Lawrence of Arabia, but at the age of 22, at the archaeological site Kidman, who plays a major role wondering what what a kid should do in a place like this, and an archaeologist tells him that this child has a PhD. "Pattinson speaks about describing TE Lawrence, saying that" It's sort of close to a real man, it's certainly not Lawrence of Arabia- like, at the same time the guy is really small and I'm not physically kind for the part, but I think I have a bit of a good handle on who he is. After I got the role, I started researching and there were certain things that You can not do it because I'm not physically the same so I have to create it a bit, and that's a small part too. not really about making Lawrence of Arabia. "Nick N. Raslan, one of the film's producers, also appeared in a cameo film.
Filming
The subject of photography began on December 20, 2013. Herzog shot background scenes and made a shot without major players in Merzouga, Morocco and Petra, Jordan. The main photography with major players starts at Merzouga on January 13, 2014. The shoots also take place in Marrakesh and Erfoud and continue until 26 February 2014, in Ouarzazate, Morocco. After Morocco, filming was moved to London and completed on March 6, 2014.
Most of the filming took place in Morocco. Fifty actors (apart from major players), over 1,500 extras and 65 technicians, all Moroccans, participated.
Release
The film premiered at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2015. The film was released in Germany on September 3, 2015. Different movie pieces will be screened at AFI Fest in November 2015. Originally, Atlas Distribution Co. obtained US Film distribution rights and is planned to be widely released in the fall of 2015. However, IFC Films later acquired the distribution rights with a planned 2017 spring release.
Promotion and marketing
An official trailer was released on June 13, 2015, followed by a second trailer, released a month later.
Reception
Critical response
The film received most of the negative reviews from critics, but Kidman's performance was praised. Aggregator reviews Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 15% score based on 59 reviews with a weighted average rating of 4.2/10 and the consensus of the site: " Queen of the Desert brings together some very talented professionals, but it's hard to understand what that draw them together - or understand how interesting real-life stories become such chaotic mess. "Metacritic's critical aggregator website holds the film on a normal score of 39 out of 100 based on 18 reviews.
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film two of five stars by saying that "Werner Herzog's biopic about the English adventurer Gertrude Bell is perfectly fitted, made competently, fully respected - and a little bit hard" and praised Kidman and Pattinson that "he (Kidman) does a really sensible job with this difficult role and he's fine" and "Pattinson brings this (minor) role quite well." Peter Debruge of Variety calls the film "an interesting but dramatically underpowered epic" and notes that "Kidman is convincingly set to play Bell as an elaborate but determined twentysomething, forging his way across the wild wilderness, but still fragile enough to fall in love on two separate occasions. "
David Rooney from The Hollywood Reporter called it "A passion without passion that lacks the complexity of sweeping and psychological", but ultimately praises Kidman and Pattinson that "(Pattinson has) a brief but significant appearance" and "he (Kidman ) "Bringing more than competent films." Jessica Kiang of Indiewire in her review said that "" Queen of the Desert "is a disappointment when you consider the wild pioneer portrait that Herzog has given us before, that she very respectful here. "And praising the players added that" (Pattinson, beyond all) the actors are not overwhelmed by the heavy "and" (Lewis) who handles the role of the married consul, who admire the aspiring Bell with the ingenuity that we have clearly relaxed during the scenes. "
Mark Adams of Screen International gave this film a diverse review, for he notes that "Though fun in parts, pacing his episodic overrides the true story of a brave and extraordinary woman." Geoffrey Macnab of The Independent said that "This is the closest Herzog has come to make conventional Hollywood movies - what is lacking is heresy, drive and wildness that is usually her trademark."
Accolades
See also
- Lawrence of Arabia (movie)
References
External links
- Official website
- Queen of the Desert on IMDb
- Queen of the Desert at Box Office Mojo
- Queen of the Desert at Rotten Tomatoes
- Queen of the Desert in Metacritic
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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