Product Details

• Actors: Glenn Gould
• Format: Classical, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English, French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Kultur Video
• DVD Release Date: June 10, 2003
• Run Time: 75 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00009PY28
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #89,945 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  Movies & TV > Musicals & Performing Arts > Classical > By Performer > Gould, Glenn

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The extraordinarily talented Canadian pianist Glenn Gould defined ecstasy as a "delicate thread binding together music, performance, performer and listener in a web of shared awareness, of innerness." Brilliant but controversial, Gould did not always enjoy unanimous support, and his performances were occasionally criticized. Marked by obsessive behavior and at times considered cold and distant, he was nonetheless a favorable influence for many people. Extasis helps us better understand Glenn Gould the man, and Glenn Gould the musician. In addition to recalling different stages of his life, the film focuses in particular on the passions he was capable of unleashing as well as on the sensitivity and intensity which this eminent musician would draw on to "recreate" the works he was performing. Combining images and music, this remarkable documentary chronicles the legacy of one of the greatest pianists of all times. - Includes special bonus performance footage of Fantasy for Organ by Sweelinck. - Includes both French and English audio soundtracks.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A candidate for Project Greenlight, June 28, 2003

By A Customer

This apparently made-for-Canadian television spectacle resembles nothing so much as an experimental student film, with its love of elementary thematic tricks such as animation and fade-outs. The juxtaposition of several Gouldian images as well as commentary from acquaintances at once was particularly irritating. Perhaps the creators were trying to mimic Gould's "contrapuntal radio" schematics, in which several voices were broadcast simultaneously, but each time a shot appeared of Gould spouting off about something, it would be replaced by another image, and the sound of the former would be cut off. This disappearing talking head was vexing, because I wanted to hear the rest of Gould's speech about whatever had fascinated him at that moment. Of course, I knew I wouldn't be able to hear everything, but this tease happened so often, at the conclusion of the disc, I snapped off the machine feeling peevish. The occasional factual error was also distracting--Gould was 31, not 32, when he retired from the stage; he had not yet celebrated his birthday for the year in which he performed his last concert. While this may be a silly point, one would like factual inaccuracies to be airbrushed out of a production such as this, believing that some resourceful fact-checker would have taken the time to look up dates and places to ensure that the announcer doesn't make an unnecessary error. The animation, to which I alluded earlier, is sophomoric and pointless. Why must we have dancing dots gamboling in the corner of the frame while he plays? (Yes, I know some of Gould's own productions for Canadian TV featured these inanities, but haven't we progressed since then?) The entire DVD is constructed on the premise that we want to listen to a bunch of people talk about what a genius Gould was (we know already). I cannot highly recommend this disc, but I refuse to seriously caution anyone against its purchase. Even after viewing it, with all the reservations listed here (and then some), I admit that I would buy it again. Sadly, I'm that big a Gould fan. A much better buy? The Russian Journey (more talking head commentary about how marvelous he was, but much more interesting).

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Talk too much, February 20, 2004

By A Customer

I guess this film originally comes from a French program featuring an introduction to Glenn Gould. Each track begins with a very short excerpt of Gould's playing, then followed by tons of different people's comments. However the program is unbalanced - around 90% of the time it is about talking, and as a result you cannot enjoy Gould's playing here (well, except the bonus part). Worse, each individual only gives a short talk for around 10~20 seconds, so you are not going to hear a seriously deep comments either.

I do not recommend this film to people who already know quite much about Gould, nor to those who buy dvd for watching Gould's playing.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars 88,000 Opinions About Glenn Gould, June 12, 2005

By	Libby (Huntington Beach, CA) - See all my reviews

They should re-title this film "88,000 Opinions About Glenn Gould From People I Could Care Less About". This documentary was a 10 on the annoying scale. It is an endless parade of opinions from the "experts" regarding Glenn Gould. We never really get to hear GG play for more than a few seconds or hear him say something more than a few sentences. Although there are some respected commentators, sometimes they come off as barnacles who want to stand in front of this wonderful artist and give their opinions in order to touch greatness. Most of the film is dubbed in English but you can still hear the French in the background which combined with the constant interrupting of GG was too much to bare!