Sarah Kennemer

Dr. Dorie LaRue

English 460
13 March 2012
Hans's Magic Moustache: Absurdity Runs High in "Magic Mountain"
Viewing a six-hour film is no trivial undertaking under any circumstances. When the
film is an experimental narrative that explores opposing philosophical ideals and the search for
meaning in a banal existence, and features a large cast of at times indistinguishable characters,
the experience becomes all the more daunting. At the close of "Magic Mountain" (or "Der
Zauberberg), the exhausted audience may feel as though they have spent six hours trekking up a
very real and very bizarre mountain of their own. This adaptation of Thomas Manns
behemoth novel is a muddle of peculiar lifestyles, incomprehensible philosophical debates,
curiously flat characters, disconnection from reality and the passage of time, and the absurdly
distracting development of facial hair on the part of the protagonist. All of these elements
coalesce into a huge task for the audience: making sense of the chaos.
"Magic Mountain" tells the story of Hans Castorp, a well-to-do young German whose
visit to his cousin at a tuberculosis sanatorium in the Swiss Alps does not go as expected. The
film follows his time spent among a peculiar branch of the European elite and examines the
different philosophical ideals and influences that varying characters exert over him. The absurd
foibles and fancies of wealthy Europeans quickly ensnare Castorp's pragmatic mind, and he
quickly finds himself taking part in their odd behaviors: perfecting idle living; romanticizing
illness; embroiled in an ongoing battle for the highest fever; and unable to leave. His stay is
punctuated by an altered sense of time; Castorp can never decide how long he has been in the

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sanatorium, and even forgets his own age soon after arriving. Added to Castorp's apparent
confusion is the confusion of the audience as they watch the cast of flat characters swirl about
each other in a seemingly meaningless existence. The relationships between the characters seem
as stilted and artificial as the characters themselves, and although this shallowness is in itself a
message to the audience, it is not delivered clearly or coherently at all times.

Indeed, the only indication of the passage of time is Castorp's evolving facial hair.
By the time Castorp's beard grows in fully,
Christoph Eichhorn leads the cast as Hans Castorp, the protagonist who seems part serial
killer and part obsessed school boy. Eichhorn's performance of the unlikable protagonist is
earnest and consistent if nothing else; Castorps journey from petulance to hysteria and finally to
quiet despair is realized convincingly through Eichhorns command of SOMETHING.
Eichhorn is at his weakest when interacting with Alexander Radszun in the role of Castorp's
cousin, Joachim Ziemen. Marie-France Pisier portrays Clawdia Chauchat, the object of Hans'
obsession and desire, and although Chauchat's motivations are unclear and her actions at times
nonsensical, Pisier smolders prettily enough and brings mystery and vivacity to the role. Flavio
Bucci and Charles Aznavour round out the principle cast of this ensemble as Ludovico
Settembrini and Professor Naphta, Castorp's philosophical mentors who are forever at odds with
one another and themselves.
The scenery of the film is perhaps its strongest point. The wild, intoxicating Alps serve
as another wall pinning the patients inside the oppressive, dark atmosphere of the sanatorium.
The shallowness of the characters and the poor explanation for the passage of time were my
greatest hindrances against enjoying this film. The female characters are rendered particularly

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one-dimensional, with each noteworthy only for her preoccupation with fish sauce, ability as a
medium, or sexual desirability.

My biggest complaint

During a laughably impassioned speech to Chauchat later in the film,

Castorp switches from German to French, but there is no indication of the switch in the English
subtitles. As a native English speaker with some French, I found this to be immensely
distracting, because I was suddenly more concerned with the reasons behind the switch and
attempting to discern his dialect than with the (presumably) important scene unfolding before
me.
If the novel which serves as source material for this film is a philosophical discussion of
ideas, the film is the fever dream that comes afterward: a jumbled, dark, muddled
conglomeration of thoughts scarcely distinguishable from one another. The characters
occasionally offer some sense of the idea they represent, but just as often their arguments seem
nonsensical and futile because nothing means anything.
No rating information on the film is readily available, though the brief instances of fullfrontal male and female nudity and certain disturbing ritualistic scenes would suggest a rating of
PG-13 or R by MPAA standards. "Magic Mountain" is an ambitious film that falls short of its
goal.
C.
Sarah Kennemer is a Senior English Major and Editor of Spectra Literary Magazine at
Louisiana State University in Shreveport. In her spare time, she practices ineptitude at video
games and becomes far too attached to fictional characters.