The Confessions of Winifred Wagner

1975 German documentary film

TMS Film
Bayerischer Rundfunk
Österreichischer Rundfunk

Release date

1975 (1975)

Running time

302 minutesCountryWest GermanyLanguageGerman

The Confessions of Winifred Wagner (German: Winifred Wagner und die Geschichte des Hauses Wahnfried, 1914–1975, lit. 'Winifred Wagner and the History of the House of Wahnfried, 1914–1975') is a 1975 West German documentary film directed by Hans-Jürgen Syberberg. It is about Winifred Wagner, widow of Richard Wagner's son Siegfried Wagner and responsible for the Bayreuth Festival from 1930 and 1945.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

The film is a five hours long interview where Syberberg talks to the then 78 years old Wagner about her work, her family, Wagner's music and Adolf Hitler. The tone is kept dry and seemingly objective, which is reflected in the original German title, which, unlike the English, does not imply any guilt.^[5]

References

^ Ebert, Roger (11 January 1977). "The Confessions of Winifred Wagner". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
^ Landy, Marcia (1979). "Politics, Aesthetics, and Patriarchy in the Confessions of Winifred Wagner". New German Critique (18): 151–166. doi:10.2307/487854.
^ Canby, Vincent (23 March 1978). "Film: A Wagner Memoir:Aggressive Candor". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
^ CPe (10 September 2012). "The Confessions of Winifred Wagner". Time Out. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
^ Berman, Russell (2017). "Introduction". In Cardullo, J. R. (ed.). Hans-Jürgen Syberberg, the Film Director as Critical Thinker: Essays and Interviews. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. pp. 13–15. ISBN 978-946300-828-0.