Le procès (1962)

Director:

Orson Welles

Writers:

Franz Kafka (novel)
Orson Welles (screenplay)

Release Date:

30 March 1963 (Italy)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Fantasy | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

An unassuming office worker is arrested and stands trial, but he is never made aware of his charges.

Plot Keywords:

Big Brother | Surrealism | Courtroom | Paranoia | Guilt Complex

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Anthony Perkins	...	Josef K.
Jeanne Moreau	...	Marika Burstner
Romy Schneider	...	Leni
Elsa Martinelli	...	Hilda
Suzanne Flon	...	Miss Pittl
Orson Welles	...	Albert Hastler (The Advocate)
Akim Tamiroff	...	Bloch
Madeleine Robinson	...	Mrs. Grubach
Arnoldo Foà	...	Inspector A
Fernand Ledoux	...	Chief Clerk of the Law Court
Michael Lonsdale	...	Priest
Max Buchsbaum	...	Examining Magistrate
Max Haufler	...	Uncle Max
Maurice Teynac	...	Deputy Manager
Wolfgang Reichmann	...	Courtroom Guard

Also Known As:

Der Prozess (West Germany)
Il processo (Italy)
The Trial (USA)

Runtime:

118 min | USA:107 min (TV version : 1984)

Country:

France | Italy | West Germany | Yugoslavia

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Optiphone) (source format)

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Finland:K-12 (re-rating: 1981) | Finland:K-16 (original rating: 1963) | Portugal:M/12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | New Zealand:PG | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | West Germany:16 (bw)

Filming Locations:

Gare d'Orsay, Paris 7, Paris, France

Company:

Paris-Europa Productions

Trivia:

Welles told Peter Bogdanovich in “This Is Orson Welles” that "there's not a single symbol" in “The Trial”.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: Before the law, there stands a guard. A man comes from the country, begging admittance to the law. But the guard cannot admit him. May he hope to enter at a later time? That is possible, said the guard. The man tries to peer through the entrance. He'd been taught that the law was to be accessible to every man...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "What's My Line?: (1963-02-17)" (1963)

Soundtrack:

Adagio in G

The Best Legal Drama or Paranoia Film Ever Made

Like most people, I've read Kafka. "The Trial" was one of the books I read for credit during high-school. I always thought it was a good book that did a great job depicting a reality based around a state of mind. While I liked the book and held it in high esteem compared to other literature I'd read, it couldn't prepare me for the incredible experience of Orson Welles's great adaptation "The Trial" ("Le Proces"). The man who once delivered the best movie ever made (in America) to a major studio made this masterpiece on almost no money and limited resources in two European countries with no sets.

Norman Bates himself, Anthony Perkins turns in a convincing performance as Joseph K. K awakes one morning to find the police in his apartment arresting him without taking him into custody or telling him what he's charged with. People come and go from the room with a creepy, unnatural ere that makes it all seem less real. Every aspect of K's life becomes warped as he realizes everyone expects him to behave differently but he isn't sure how and his attempts to correct himself get him deeper into trouble. He's lead to a secret meeting that turns out to be his hearing which turns out to be a mockery. K gets a lawyer, played by Welles himself (who has one of the best entrances in screen history here), but he turns out to more of a villain than a deliverance. Every woman K meets is attracted to him, presumably because he's accused. Our hero is a marked man who can't understand the game and is appalled by the rules. As K ventures deeper into the secrets of the mysterious legal system he becomes more and more convinced that he is doomed and for no reason at all. The movie builds to an astounding climax that fits the dream tone perfectly and surpasses any expectations.

"The Trial" is set in an unnamed country in a city composed of decaying industrial buildings, old factories, shady tenements, and empty streets. Welles filmed much of this in an abandoned train station in Paris and the ad-hoc location proves to be the perfect psychological landscape. Welles took Kafka's paranoia over the persecution of Jews and updated it to a post-war setting where the law is the enemy of every man, or as in this case, the everyman. This is no mere portrait of fascism or communism, but a condemnation of abuses of the law everywhere. The landscape is highly engaging, and some modern buildings are thrown in the mix, perhaps to remind the viewer that this could happen here in America, too. "The Trial" is one of the most memorable settings in screen history and Welles gives us a taste of its terrors from lofty heights to claustrophobic depths.

Welles always said that the dialogue was priority number one, and here every scrap of it is memorable. In spite of the spectacular lines, the visual style is awe inspiring and it's a bit shocking to consider that this was the end of production that Welles never planned. The look is very film noir, like a 50s detective picture, but darker, almost to the point of being horror. This movie runs on fear, but maintains dramatic pathos and a sense of humor that help it rise above other films with that intention. People call Welles's films "style over substance", but if you watch the opening bedroom scene, you'll agree that this film kept them in harmony.

Akim Tamiroff ("Ocean's 11") and Romy Schneider ("What's New Pussycat") shine in supporting roles as the lawyers subordinates, slaves who play inside the rules to save themselves. They help to flesh his out as not merely an adaptation of Kafka's work, but an expanded drama, brought to life with the skill of Shakespeare and a lens worthy of Hitchcock. This is more than a parable, it's a human drama that bathes in pure expressions of fear and depression.

"The Trial" is easily the best film of its year if not of that decade. It should be seen by fans of good film and by audiences in general "because tomorrow, or someday soon, it could happen to you!"