Dias de Nietzsche em Turin

Intimate and original portrait of Friedrich Nietzsche’s stay in Turin, starting with his arrival in April 1888. The charismatic and popular philosopher has appealed to the imagination of artists throughout the twentieth century, and this time it is the Brazilian Júlio Bressane (in 2000 in Rotterdam Filmmaker in Focus) who focuses on him.In his days in Turin, Nietzsche was probably at his peak as a thinker. It was probably no coincidence that he wrote his last masterpieces there: Nietzsche was very sensitive to his surroundings and the climate, and Northern Italy suited him excellently.The Brazilian actor Fernando Eiras is a convincing Nietzsche who roams Turin, admiring the architecture, going to the opera and enjoying the language and the people. He settles into his small room in a lodging house, writes his books, diaries and letters and plays piano.The film that is practically without dialogue a voiceover reads from e.g. Nietzsche’s travel writings is filled with wellchosen fragments of classical music from the time and beautiful interior scenes. No one knows exactly why the German writer was eventually prey to insanity, but Bressane shows this last, tragic episode in a subtle and convincing way. Keep your wits about you for the very last scene…