
The Silence Before Bach(2007)
This latest feature from the eccentrically experimental Catalan director Portabella is a beautiful, sometimes faintly bonkers celebration and contemplation of the role Bach’s music plays in the world today. Blending historical reconstruction with very loosely linked ‘dramatic’ scenes and documentary sequences, the film constitutes a playful, painterly sequence of variations on the argument that Johann Sebastian changed the way the world hears thanks to his extraordinary ear for harmony.

Movie: The Silence Before Bach
Top 10 Billed Cast
Mayordomo
Self
J. S. Bach
Violonchelista
Afinador de Pianos
Amazona
Clienta

Die Stille vor Bach
HomePage
Overview
This latest feature from the eccentrically experimental Catalan director Portabella is a beautiful, sometimes faintly bonkers celebration and contemplation of the role Bach’s music plays in the world today. Blending historical reconstruction with very loosely linked ‘dramatic’ scenes and documentary sequences, the film constitutes a playful, painterly sequence of variations on the argument that Johann Sebastian changed the way the world hears thanks to his extraordinary ear for harmony.
Release Date
2007-12-21
Average
7.3
Rating:
3.6 startsTagline
Genres
Languages:
DeutschEspañolCatalàFrançaisItalianoKeywords
Recommendations Movies

The Commuter(en)
A businessman, on his daily commute home, gets unwittingly caught up in a criminal conspiracy that threatens not only his life but the lives of those around him.

La Jetée(fr)
A man confronts his past during an experiment that attempts to find a solution to the problems of a post-apocalyptic world caused by a world war.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty(en)
Walter Mitty, a daydreaming writer with an overprotective mother, likes to imagine that he is a hero who experiences fantastic adventures. His dream becomes reality when he accidentally meets a mysterious woman who hands him a little black book. According to her, it contains the locations of the Dutch crown jewels hidden since World War II. Soon, Mitty finds himself in the middle of a confusing conspiracy, where he has difficulty differentiating between fact and fiction.

Inside Out(en)
When 11-year-old Riley moves to a new city, her Emotions team up to help her through the transition. Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness work together, but when Joy and Sadness get lost, they must journey through unfamiliar places to get back home.

Interstellar(en)
The adventures of a group of explorers who make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage.

Inception(en)
Cobb, a skilled thief who commits corporate espionage by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets is offered a chance to regain his old life as payment for a task considered to be impossible: "inception", the implantation of another person's idea into a target's subconscious.

Guardians of the Galaxy(en)
Light years from Earth, 26 years after being abducted, Peter Quill finds himself the prime target of a manhunt after discovering an orb wanted by Ronan the Accuser.

The Favourite(en)
England, early 18th century. The close relationship between Queen Anne and Sarah Churchill is threatened by the arrival of Sarah's cousin, Abigail Hill, resulting in a bitter rivalry between the two cousins to be the Queen's favourite.

Parasite(ko)
All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.

Blade Runner 2049(en)
Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K, unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what's left of society into chaos. K's discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard, a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years.

Train to Busan(ko)
When a zombie virus pushes Korea into a state of emergency, those trapped on an express train to Busan must fight for their own survival.

The Irishman(en)
Pennsylvania, 1956. Frank Sheeran, a war veteran of Irish origin who works as a truck driver, accidentally meets mobster Russell Bufalino. Once Frank becomes his trusted man, Bufalino sends him to Chicago with the task of helping Jimmy Hoffa, a powerful union leader related to organized crime, with whom Frank will maintain a close friendship for nearly twenty years.

Nobody(en)
Hutch Mansell, a suburban dad, overlooked husband, nothing neighbor — a "nobody." When two thieves break into his home one night, Hutch's unknown long-simmering rage is ignited and propels him on a brutal path that will uncover dark secrets he fought to leave behind.

Blade Runner(en)
In the smog-choked dystopian Los Angeles of 2019, blade runner Rick Deckard is called out of retirement to terminate a quartet of replicants who have escaped to Earth seeking their creator for a way to extend their short life spans.

Whiplash(en)
Under the direction of a ruthless instructor, a talented young drummer begins to pursue perfection at any cost, even his humanity.

Get Out(en)
Chris and his girlfriend Rose go upstate to visit her parents for the weekend. At first, Chris reads the family's overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter's interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he never could have imagined.

Venom(en)
Investigative journalist Eddie Brock attempts a comeback following a scandal, but accidentally becomes the host of Venom, a violent, super powerful alien symbiote. Soon, he must rely on his newfound powers to protect the world from a shadowy organization looking for a symbiote of their own.

Incredibles 2(en)
Elastigirl springs into action to save the day, while Mr. Incredible faces his greatest challenge yet – taking care of the problems of his three children.

Blue Beetle(en)
Recent college grad Jaime Reyes returns home full of aspirations for his future, only to find that home is not quite as he left it. As he searches to find his purpose in the world, fate intervenes when Jaime unexpectedly finds himself in possession of an ancient relic of alien biotechnology: the Scarab.

The Dark Knight(en)
Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lt. Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as the Joker.
Similar Movies

Bach pour tous(fr)
A musical journey in the footsteps of conductor Michel Brun, an atypical character, an atheist, who nevertheless plays sacred music, and who devotes his life to Johann Sebastian Bach. With the musicians of the Ensemble Baroque de Toulouse.

The Question of Instrument(en)
Part I of the series "Glenn Gould Plays Bach" is devoted to Bach's "Art of Fugue." Gould's performance is followed by a lively repartee with Monsaingeon, in which the pianist provides dazzling insights illustrated by music examples. He explains, for example, why he plays some pieces extremely slowly, and bemoans the "musicological overkill" of scholars who insist that Bach's keyboard music should only be played on a harpsichord.

Sting: Beyond The Police(en)
The personal life and professional career of music superstar Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, universally known as Sting, who became passionate about music at a very early age and founded the trio The Police in 1977 with Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers, achieving an immediate success.

Orgues, Toccatas, et Fantaisies(fr)
Director Bruno Monsaingeon stages this live musical journey into the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, featuring virtuoso Marie-Claire Alain playing organs hand-selected to best represent Bach's Baroque style. The tour incorporates venues at which the maestro himself would have performed, such as Haarlem, Rötha, Groningen and Dresden, and includes masterpieces such as Toccata in F Major, Trio Sonata no. 1, Fantasia and Fugue in G Minor, and more.

The Goldberg Variations(en)
Part III in the series "Glenn Gould Plays Bach" spotlights Gould recording Bach's "Goldberg Variations" in a sound studio. In a brief introduction, he reminisces about his first recording of the pieces and explains why he wanted to record them again now, a quarter of a century later. It was to be his last recording of the "Goldberg Variations" and perhaps the last time he played the work: Glenn Gould died the year after the recording was made.

Bach - A Christmas Miracle(de)
Leipzig, December 1734: Christmas brings the Bach family together. The first snow has fallen and the children Gottfried and Elisabeth are delighted about the arrival of their older brothers Friedemann and Emanuel. The Thomaskantor has retired to his music room. Anna Magdalena supports her husband, as there are only a few days left and his latest work, the six-part "Christmas Oratorio", must be finished on time. It is awaited with suspicion by the city council and the gentlemen of the consistory, who have long found Bach's waywardness a thorn in their side and fear that, after the premiere of the St. Matthew Passion a few years earlier, the St. Thomas Church will once again be filled with "operatic" music. With the oratorio, Johann Sebastian Bach hopes that he will finally become court composer in Dresden. And, as always, he demands that all members of the family join forces to help him. But differences of opinion are increasingly delaying the completion of Bach's most famous work.

Christmas Oratorio(en)
This recording of all six cantatas from the Salle Henry Le Bœuf in the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Belgium, in December 2012 features internationally renowned Bach expert Philippe Herreweghe and the Collegium Vocale Gent.

Man of the Woods(it)
At night, in the dark recesses of the woods, a male cellist lures in viewers with a performance of Bach's "Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major." It stars Paul McCoy Drutz-Hannahs, a professional cellist with the Johns Hopkins University Orchestra.

An Art Art of the Fugue(en)
In Part II of the series "Glenn Gould Plays Bach", Gould concentrates on the fugal form in Bach's works, showing us how Bach uses keys like stops on an organ, and how they give him ideas and colours. He performs various fugues from the Well-Tempered Clavier and reveals why he feels the "Art of Fugue" is the work that summed up Bach's life.

Bach Brandenburg Concertos & Coffee Cantata(en)
Deutsche Grammophon celebrates Nikolaus Harnoncourt's 80th birthday with this 2-DVD release of rare, vintage, period Bach performances for the first time. Never released on DVD and, to the dismay of fans, long unavailable--these glorious Bach pieces are conducted by period instrument pioneer, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, as only he can. Harnoncourt, a notable cellist, performs in two concertos and on gamba in one. Harnoncourt warns, "If we lose contact with the great works of Bach, we lose our contact with humanity." Vocalists Janet Perry, Robert Holl, and Peter Schreier sing with distinction in the Coffee Cantata. The Surround Sound makes clear that they revel in the acoustics of the visually magnificent Baroque library of Wiblingen Monastery.

Ivo Pogorelich: Bach, Scarlatti, Beethoven(en)
Pianist Ivo Pogorelich in a 1987 studio recital of works by Bach, Scarlatti, and Beethoven, recorded at historical palaces of Veneto Villa Caldogno in Vincenza and Eckartsau Castle in Lower Austria. The program consists of: BACH English Suites ##2,3 // SCARLATTI Sonatas K487 in C, K20 in E, K98 in e, K450 in g, K1 in d, K159 in C // BEETHOVEN Sonata #11 in B♭ op22; Bagatelle "für Elise".

De occulta philosophia(es)
A memorable intellectual journey to rediscover Baroque music, from the handmade fabrication of a harpsichord by master luthier Titus Crijnen to the interpretation of several scores by Bach and other Baroque composers by the Spanish ensemble La Reverencia.

Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach(de)
The life and music of Johann Sebastian Bach as presented by his wife, Anna.

Lifted(en)
A little girl and her inventor father celebrate the success of their greatest dream, on a day she will never forget.

Herione: Deo(en)
DEO A reimagining of Deo Gratias (ca. 1497) by Johannes Ockeghem. A Film by Eric Leiser. Animation by Eric Leiser. Composed by Pauline Kim Harris and Spencer Topel Deo is an acoustic-electronic transcription of Johannes Ockeghem’s stunning Deo Gratias devised as a complement to Ambient Chaconne. Notable as a 36-part canon, Ockeghem evokes singing of angels in heaven via an innovation on a traditional canon, using this ancient musical device as a kind of acoustic feedback delay. In essence, our Deo expands this idea of delays to a canon of thousands, in an ever expanding and infinite soundscape, where the melodies eventually dissolve into resonance.

Friedemann Bach(de)
During a house concert, the Bach family gets a visit by their son Wilhelm Friedemann, who has just given up his position in Dresden because he no longer could endure the reprisals of his superiors.
Bach & Friends(en)
A two hour documentary on Johann Sebastian Bach. World-class musicians share their innermost thoughts and personal reflections on the power and genius of the most influential composer in history.

Erbarme dich - Matthäus Passion Stories(nl)
Erbarme dich - Matthäus Passion Stories is a labyrinthine narrative in which notables such as Peter Sellars, Emio Greco, Simon Halsey and painter Rinke Nijburg explain their special relationship with Bach’s St Matthew Passion to Ramón Gieling (Johan Cruijff: en un momento dado). They speak against the backdrop of a church which has fallen into disrepair, while a choir of homeless people and Pieter Jan Leusink’s Bach Choir & Orchestra rehearse the Passion. Leusink isn't just the conductor, he is one of the main characters himself, with a painful past in which this musical piece has played a dominant role. Stories from the others alternate seamlessly with this. We learn how the St Matthew Passion played a decisive role in the relations between men and women, fathers and sons, fathers and daughters, mothers and their unborn children, and finally that in spite of our differences we all find a common denominator in the secret of Bach's music.

Living Bach(en)
There are more than 300 Bach choirs and Bach ensembles worldwide, most of which are made up of amateurs. For many, their lives are inextricably linked with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. What do people seek and find in his music? What connects them across continents? What fascination lies in the music of the famous German composer, which manages to transcend borders, cultures, religions and centuries? The film embarks on a journey through six continents to meet amateur musicians and singers who have made Bach their "centerpiece".

My Name Is Bach(de)
Composer Johann Sebastian Bach is introduced to King Frederick II of Prussia in 1747. The aging composer and the young monarch clash and a battle of egos ensues.