Product Details

• Actors: Kyle MacLachlan, Anthony Hopkins, Jason Robards, Juliet Stevenson, Polly Walker
• Directors: David Hugh Jones
• Writers: Franz Kafka, Harold Pinter
• Producers: Ann Wingate, Carolyn Montagu, Geoffrey Paget, Kobi Jaeger, Louis Marks
• Format: PAL
• Language: English
• Region: All Regions
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Run Time: 120 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005RZRM
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #172,675 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Trial" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
On the morning of his 30th birthday, senior bank clerk Josef K. is put under arrest by men who refuse to identify themselves. He's not taken into custody, and nobody will--or even can--tell him the charges against him. Josef refuses to take it seriously, and thus begins his descent into the mad vagaries of a court system that is as enigmatic as it is ominous. This BBC coproduction of the Franz Kafka book features a screenplay by Harold Pinter (Turtle Diary, The French Lieutenant's Woman) that starts out full of wit and menace, but loses steam in the second half and delivers a flat and confusing ending. Kyle MacLachlan is perfectly cast as a sort of yuppie Josef K. who's so self-involved and complacent that he cannot express proper outrage at the injustice. Although he's second-billed, Anthony Hopkins's role as the priest is more of a cameo. Polly Walker and Alfred Molina (a standout as the court painter, Titorelli) both seem to get Kafka's cosmic joke. Beautifully filmed in Prague. --Geof Miller

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as Orson's!, November 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Trial [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Whilst this was nowhere near as good as the 1963 version it wasn't too bad either. It appears from other reviews that people were bagging this simply because they failed to understand it. Kafka isn't supposed to be accessable. He is dense, sophisticated and surreal. He is also riotously funny, although many miss his humour. As for the end of The Trial (which is, in my humble opinion, the greatest novel written this century, and probably never could be done justice by a film), you are not supposed to understand what was going on (K didn't either! ). That is the whole point. The Trial is, amongst many other things, a scathing examination of the meaninglessness of bureaucracy. I dare say if you persist with either the book or the film, but particularly the book, you will be greatly rewarded.

All in all this is a very good, albeit not great, film. In future fellow reviewers, don't bag a film just because you don't understand it!

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great move--TERRIBLE DVD, April 4, 2002

By	c b prescott (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Trial (DVD)

I give the movie five stars. The DVD, one (see below). I won't focus much on the merits of the film aside from saying that the story of the film is one of the most important works of the twentieth-century and is central to the modern, and post-modern, human experience. I saw this movie at the Angelika in New York when it came out. One of Hollywood's crimes was not giving it a distribution deal in the U.S. I have to admit that, the first time I saw it, I was somewhat disappointed by the portrayals in general. However, I hadn't read the novel in several years despite being a Kafka devotee. I reread it yet again and later viewed the film on video tape. The more I watched it, the more I realized what a wonderful job Harold Pinter did with the screenplay.

Now, as far as the DVD itself goes, this is one of the WORST transfers I have ever seen. Thanks go to the folks at Fox Lorber for another disappointing product. I think my original VHS copy had better image quality than this. Furthermore, as another reviewer notes, this film is beautifully photographed, yet the DVD is full screen only. The principals of Fox Lorber should be locked up for not releasing this in widescreen.

As for the extras? Yeah, right. There is a chapter selection function. How's that? There's not even a general menu, no trailers, interviews, etc. Nothing. Poor ole Franz. Still not being treated properly after all these years.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For those who did not understand the point... (*SPOILERS*), January 26, 2001

By	"a113" (NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trial [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Despite having seen the two and a half overall rating of the film, I decided to rent it, for two reasons: I had not read the book but felt that I should at least make myself familiar with the content and, well, I just like looking at Kyle MacLachlan. For the first reason, this review will not relate the movie to the book. For both reasons, I might have given at it more stars than it deserves.

Having just watched the movie, I became very curious of the sources of its very low rating and re-read the reviews. It seems that many people just did not understand what was going on, and I immodestly decided to take it upon myself to provide them with a possible explanation.

As a reviewer before me wrote, this movie is indeed a scathing satire of the vast bureaucratic system. Think tax returns, medical insurance papers, red tape at work, getting accused of a crime you did not commit (god forbid!)--"This is Hell!" you say. And Hell it is. Or the purgatory. Or the Jugdement. Or all of these at once. Recall the apple in the first scene, the seductresses, the flogger, the heat in the painter's attic, the references to the scriptures by the priest...

I think there are two major currents to the movie/book. First of all, it is the idea that hell is created by you and by people around you--no need for demons and hot coals (c.f. "No Exit" by Jean-Paul Sartre). In the conversation with Joseph K., the painter explains that there are only three possible fates awaiting an accused man: definite acquittal--but he has not seen anyone who got acquitted (they do not end up in hell !), ostensible acquittal (for those who join the system actively--become one of the bureaucrats--and torture each other), and indefinite postponement (for those eternally waiting souls--the passive parts of the system). By refusing to join the system in either capacity, you escape hell.

Superficially Joseph K. does not seem to join the system, and yet, subtly, he does. He gets very close to escaping at times, but he obviously does not make it. His sin is his pride. It brought him to hell and it prevents him from ever leaving it. Remember, at the very end, he actually makes what may seem the right decision to assist his executioners and break the vicious circle, however he does it for the wrong reason: "I don't what it to be said, that I wanted to begin it all over again..." he says. Right before his death, he gets a glimpse of god (I am not sure about this interpretation though) and he is very close to breaking away, yet he cannot because he thinks his death shameful (his last phrase: "Like a dog..."). No doubt he will wake up again to see two "public servants" eat his breakfast and leave him to taste a bite of that apple again. As we all know, one does not escape hell.

The second major idea, I think, is the tri-unity of the purgatory, the trial, and hell. In Kafka's world they are one and the same.

I am sure the most fascinating ideas of the movie came from Kafka's immortal novel, however the movie certainly reflected them. Kyle MacLachlan IS a conceited yuppie, and he is organic in the role of Joseph K. The casting of Anthony Hopkins as the gatekeeper is a bit too obvious for my taste--he is always cast into these kinds of roles. I cannot complain too much of this though, since in these roles he is uniformly good. The visuals are beautiful, and Prague is my love.

I think "The Trial" is going to be the next book I read...