Das Kabinett des Dr. Parnassus

It's Gilliam's full-field fantasy that made a virtue out of a necessity (Depp, Law, Farrell), and while there’s really nothing to fault it for, it's not something absolutely worth loving. Rather, it’s "just" a marionette adorned with colorful ribbons in the hands of an aging yet solid puppeteer. 4 ½. (01.02.2010)

Ach, diese alte törichte Kerl ... trotz all dieses berauschenden Glitzerzeugs, Schleier und verrückten Formen entgeht ihm, dass die gesamte Show ernsthaft in einem Ozean von Gedanken und narrativer Verwirrung herumschwankt. Aber kann man auf ihn denn dafür böse sein? Wahrscheinlich ja, obwohl Das Kabinett des Doktor Parnassus den vermasselten Brothers Grimm - Lerne das Fürchten sechs Fuß tief begräbt. Und wieder ist es er - der skurrile, verschwenderische, unruhige und kindische Kerl und Collagenmaler des Unmöglichen ... Trotz seinen hervorragenden schauspielerischen Könnens gehört jedoch sein jüngstes Werk eher zu seinen Filmen von geringerer Qualität. Ich möchte hierdurch jedoch nicht die Tatsache vertuschen, dass diese Qualität im Vergleich zu anderen immer noch verdammt gut ist. (08.01.2010)

Gilliam's The Last Temptation of Christ, while losing points in the superfluous passages behind the mirror (except in the of the very final one), it gets a lot of points in the London "real" part of the storyline, which fortunately prevails. (22.01.2010)

There is nothing against heating in the wide-ranging imagination, but the story must not be forgotten. Terry Gilliam stubbornly creates "in his own way" to the point where his regularly repeated formula for the end begins to slowly but surely irritate me against the majority of usual rules. The inventive first hour and the likable main characters against the backdrop of the right mystical plot are wasted when it starts to get entangled, change sides, and overturn archetypes. I can understand why such surprises are successful with the audience, but a great cinematic experience did not occur on my side, despite multiple acting performances by Ledger and his alter-ego or the beauty of Lily Cole. (30.04.2010)

Honestly, I didn't expect to give only three stars to Terry Gilliam, as I should be more forgiving due to my knowledge of all his weaknesses. But with his latest work, it's like this: it contains a number of five-star scenes, brilliant special effects, and top-notch acting performances, but it's terribly unbalanced and as a whole, the film is not that great. I realized that a whole series of inconspicuous low-budget TV films ended up resonating with me much more. Those who know the history of the Monty Python group know that the other members of the group always had problems with two colleagues, namely Chapman for his alcoholism and chronic unreliability, and Gilliam for his impracticality and megalomania. As John Cleese recalls, it was necessary to watch every step he took, as otherwise, he would dream and create and constantly exceed the budget. His work has always been bursting with ideas in which the whole loses itself. And that's exactly the trouble with Imaginarium. It is overwhelmed with a lot of decorative elements, visual ideas, and self-indulgent playthings, due to which the idea and the story tend to disappear. The cast is fabulous, and it's a joy to watch all the members of the ensemble. That's true except for the traditional problem of Gilliam's entire directing career - always carefully choosing male performers, while hardly ever (except for 12 Monkeys) reaching for first-league actresses. It's quite typical for him to choose various hot models - for example, he cast a completely unknown model Kim Greist in his key film Brazil, only to be strongly disgusted by her performance and cut out several of her scenes. The old man didn't learn his lesson, so this time he cast model Lily Cole in the main role, undoubtedly the owner of a beautiful body and a lovely face, but I'm afraid she's just an average actress. It's not a disaster, as in contemporary blockbusters things are often worse, but I can imagine dozens of better professional actresses for this role. Moreover, this girl didn't match the role from a typological point of view. Her glamorous image would suit the character of a call girl more. The film will likely have a decent impact and commercial success, especially considering Heath Ledger's death, but I can't shake off the feeling that Gilliam owes a lot to his reputation and Imaginarium can only look up to the essential films in Gilliam's filmography from a distance. I can't resist commenting on the character of the devil, who definitely does not resemble the classic depiction of the devil as an instrument of evil described by the Christian Church. Gilliam's devil is rather a player who sacrifices practically everything for the principle of the game and enjoys it greatly in our world. A very likable, albeit morbid character. Overall impression: 65%. (18.02.2010)

Heath Ledger was resurrected to steal this his last movie. Against all odds, Gilliam successfully managed to bring the picture to a successful conclusion. Not completely first-class, but very good all the same. His imagination works on overdrive and I can’t help thinking that Parnassus is actually personification of Gilliam himself who time and again makes a bet with the devil about whether he will be able to finish his next story. The special effects, although not completely perfect, are spectacular and depict stuff I personally like to see in movies (temple carved into stone in the shape of Buddha sitting on some elephants, jellyfish flying in space, well who could resist that?). They nicely contrast with quite realistically depicted period London full of drunks and Russian mafia ;-). Heath’s stand-ins are incorporated really well into the movie and don’t interrupt its flow in any way. Even though “flow" is not exactly the right word because here and there it falls apart in Gilliam’s hands. Who knows if he really had managed shoot all of the scenes with Ledger that he needed. Don't believe everything you read. Especially “The Mirror". (02.02.2010)

Eindeutige fünf Sterne. Es kommt selten vor, dass in meiner Rezension so etwas auftaucht, aber: Diejenigen, die der Film Das Kabinett des Doktor Parnassus gelangweilt, enttäuscht oder gelangweilt und gleichzeitig enttäuscht hat, haben einfach keine Fantasie. Sie sind nicht imstande, über einen Film nachzudenken, und wollen nicht träumen. So. Das Kabinett des Doktor Parnassus ist nämlich ausgezeichnet. In jeder Sekunde, in jeder Aufnahme spürt man den typischen Gilliam, dessen magische Welt ich wahrscheinlich auch mit geschlossenen Augen erkennen würde. Wir haben uns schon daran gewöhnt, dass dieser US-amerikanische Python auch bei der Auswahl der Schauspieler*innen eine glückliche Hand hat. Hier war es wieder ein Volltreffer. Und gleich mehrmals. Ledger, Depp, Law und Farrell sind sensationell. Die bezaubernde Lily Cole, Christopher Plummer, für den es kein Problem ist, in einer Szene wie ein Obdachloser und in der nächsten wie ein würdiger Magier auszusehen… Und nicht zuletzt Tom Waits, einer der besten Teufel der Filmwelt. Mein Applaus gehört allen. Ich wünsche mir, dass Terry Gilliam mit dem Erzählen von Geschichten nie aufhört (wir wissen doch, wie wichtig es für die Welt ist, nicht wahr?).__PS: Die DVD enthält eine – für die heutigen miserablen Verhältnisse überraschende – Portion an interessanten Extras. Bei dem Rundfunkinterview mit Heath Ledger (in drei Wochen bin ich mit den Dreharbeiten eines neuen Films von Terry Gilliam fertig) lief mir aber ein Schauer über den Rücken. (07.08.2010)

What does it matter that the visuals are so charming and interesting when, story-wise, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus is an utterly weak spectacle that, after a promising first half hour, gradually lost my sympathy until it stopped at the freezing point? At least the stars are visibly enjoying their participation, although I would be a thousand times happier if none of them had to help Terry Gilliam and Heath Ledger was still among us. More or less only for him, for Johnny Depp and for Jude Law I give the two stars (I don't mention Farrell, because I couldn't watch that long)... (22.09.2012)

I treated myself to another viewing of a film I saw years ago when my world was still all right. It only confirmed my belief that Terry Gilliam is a true visual artist. Admittedly, I wasn't looking forward to rewatching it, remembering that the story went slightly over my head. It turns out that I just needed to age for it like fine liquor. Nothing threw me off, confused me, or annoyed me this time, and I could enjoy this fantastic, wild ex-Python ride to the fullest without being distracted by a lot of unanswered questions. If the casting of four actors as Tony hadn't been a bare necessity and a last-ditch move, it would still have been a great idea, perfectly suited for this wacky film. My personal favorite was Tom Waits as Mr. Nick. It was a weird film, no question about it, but if you know Terry Gilliam's work, you know that it could have been a lot more bizarre. I simply had to increase my rating after all these years. / Lesson learned: I strongly don't recommend gambling with the Devil. (22.10.2022)

I have one unpleasant memory from the film "Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus", which is why I didn't see Johnny Depp in the movie. Yes, I mainly went to see the film because of Heath, who did not disappoint. I like how Gilliam dealt with the unfortunate situation. All the actors did incredibly well, and visually the film is unbelievably interesting, but that was to be expected from Gilliam. The screenplay does lag a little, but you go into it knowing that it will be more of an artistic experience rather than a popcorn flick. (06.01.2014)

Hats off to Terry Gilliam who, despite his status as perpetual underdog, managed to deal with the death of Heath Ledger in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and cast 3 excellent actors in his place. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is actually sort of a fairy tale, serving up a visual feast on a diamond platter that I couldn't get enough of :)) Something of a Faustian theme, something of a Monty Python theme, and of course Gilliam's unmistakable signature with his incredible directorial sense – all of this is what his latest effort has so far. It has to be said that 4 stars in this case is a rating of a slightly different character – I don't want to go into greater detail about it, so I'll just say that these are simply Gilliam stars, to which I ascribe greater value than any "fives".:)) (26.01.2010)