Winner of the Teddy for "Best Feature Film" at the 1993 Berlinale.
A humorous portrait of one of the 20th century’s most influential philosophers. This self-tortured eccentric, who preferred detective fiction and the musicals of Carmen Miranda to Aristotle, is a fitting subject for Derek Jarman’s irreverent imagination. A visually stunning and profoundly entertaining work about modern philosophy and the dark genius that revolutionized it.
GENRES
- Drama / Dramedy
- International / European / United Kingdom / British
- Drama / Biopic
Cast & Crew
- Jill Balcon
- Clancy Chassay
- Sally Dexter
- Michael Gough
- Karl Johnson
- Gina Marsh
- John Quentin
- Tilda Swinton - Lady Ottoline Morrell
Festivals
- Awards & Accolades
- Best Feature Film Berlinale 1993
Reviews
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At one point, Wittgenstein sez: "I am a total disaster". Well, this film is a total disaster. On its behalf, it "sort of" catches the ideas of the great excentric philosopher, but it is terribly staged (as an evolving play, it wouldn't work on the stage), photographed, conceived. Critics liked it, which shows you how idiotic and snobbish critics are when they detect something 'highbrow' in the sea of mediocrity which is contemporary cinema.
Sleep inducing even if you're interested in the great ideas, philosophical questions, human evolution, etc.
Skip it!
The style gets in the way of the substance more than a few times, but it makes otherwise potentially dry biopic material fairly interesting.





