The scene is England; the time, the dog days of World War I. Lady Ottoline Morrell and Bertrand Russell are reclining on their bed, reading a letter from the Viennese philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. His remarks prompt Lady Ottoline to ask Russell, “What is logical symbolism?” “It’s too difficult to explain,” he shrugs. “That’s the trouble with you, Bertie,” she tells him, her voice narrowing with annoyance. “You can never answer a straight question.”
Neither can any philosopher, at least not to Wittgenstein’s satisfaction. But you don’t have to know what logical symbolism is to enjoy this film from writer-director Derek Jarman. In its all-too-quick 75 minutes, you’re told everything you need to know to appreciate Wittgenstein’s obsessive quest for perfection. Jarman’s film powerfully communicates the urgency of Wittgenstein’s philosophical investigation into language and reality – an all-or-nothing commitment to seeing clearly and acting in accordance to what he has seen, regardless of how it alters the circumstances of his life.
Jarman presents Wittgenstein as a mass of contradictions: a brilliant intellectual who never read Aristotle and preferred watching westerns and musicals to teaching philosophy; a man burning to live honestly, who had to hide his homosexuality in early 20th-century Europe; a scion of a wealthy family who gave away all his money and was obsessed with the idea of abandoning philosophy and working as a manual laborer. Holding these contradictions together is Karl Johnson’s uncanny performance as Wittgenstein. He lets you see the humor and passion in this humorless, rigidly self-controlled thinker. Frequent Jarman collaborators Tilda Swinton and Michael Gough are a joy as Lady Ottoline Morrell and Bertrand Russell, alternately awed and exasperated by their Viennese genius. As the young Wittgenstein, Clancy Chassay narrates the proceedings with a rich sense of enthusiasm and fun, buoying up Jarman’s stylized, theatrical depiction of Wittgenstein’s difficult life.
To have made a film that sheds light on a major 20th-century philosopher is an accomplishment in itself. But to have done the job with the wit and elegance and simplicity which Jarman has brought to Wittgenstein – that’s a cause for celebration.
(This review first appeared in The Film Journal, October-November 1993.)
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Film: Reviews: Contents
For more on Derek Jarman, see:
Book Review: At Your Own Risk
Film Interview: Derek Jarman
Film Review: Edward II
NICOLE V. GAGNÉ 