Page 202 - Winterreise Coverage Book, 2021 - 22

10 April 2022

Winter’s Journey: Schubert’s Winterreise on film

by Frances Wilson

Benjamin Appl © David Ruano

British director John Bridcut has made a striking new film of Winterreise, Schubert’s
great song cycle, with baritone Benjamin Appl and pianist James Baillieu. It’s all
the more remarkable because it was made during the first year of the pandemic,
and on a very tight budget.

It’s filmed in Switzerland, in and around the extraordinarily striking Julier Tower, a
remarkable modern theatre constructed of wood and glass, whose stark, blood-red
walls contrast sharply with the snow-covered landscape in which it stands. The
scene is set immediately, with Benjamin Appl trudging through deep snow
(apparently, the snow began to fall just before filming began). Here is Schubert’s
lonely wanderer, having left the house of his beloved, cast out on a journey of
reflection on love lost, regret, sorrow, the torment of reawakening hope and the
journey to resignation. Set to poems by Wilhelm Müller, this is a literal and
metaphorical journey for the protagonist. This new film also sets the narrative in
the context of our current times, with its themes of loneliness, separation and
isolation – powerfully portrayed through the cold, people-less landscape.