Review of Gesualdo: Death for Five Voices (1995) by Allen G — 22 Jun 2013

As always, the subject matter is strong and Herzog adds something to take this away from the stuffy-documentary vibe but for me he goes a bit too far this time. Herzog always throws his weight around and I'm usually fond of the outcome but this one stray too far from the source material- it is simply fiction at times and while I enjoyed said fiction, I really learnt very little about Gesualdo in this one and that's a disappointment. I ended up learning more about Herzog and the spirit of Italy at the time, both interesting things but as a documentary this doesn't amount to much. It's a scrap book of some of Herzog's many obscure ideas thrown in to an, otherwise, pretty standard documentary.

Herzog himself states that this one "runs amok" but he understandably sees that as a pro whereas I found it to be a con in this case, quite literally. Artistic embellishment is good and well but portraying fiction as fact amongst actual truths is pretty deceitful and confusing for example, the story of the murders is correct whereas Gesualdo killing his second child in the manner described was completely scripted by Herzog and that is the story that I found most interesting. In a film it would be great but this is supposed to be a documentary and while I'm used to Herzog's ways this one just blurs the lines too much for me. In addition to that, when it is factual, its tone is far from the playful, yet oddly haunting charm that resonates throughout the scripted scenes. It's usually just a scholar reading from a book as you would see in any documentary. Some scenes, scripted or otherwise, also offer little to the film- at times I found the performances of the music to be the only times I'd actually learn something about Gesualdo. Nonetheless, Herzog doesn't hold back and this is yet another interesting and memorable piece of work but there's little of worth to take from it, especially if one views it as a documentary. This is for Herzog fans only (like myself) but his experimentation leaves this documentary well below what I expect from him.