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by Herbert Vesely
grade: 8
With On These Evenings, it had become clear which direction Austrian cinema was heading in. The desire to experiment was growing ever stronger. So was the desire to leave behind a past that was perhaps a little too ‘burdensome’. Restored by Filmarchiv Austria and presented on the Filmarchiv On channel.
New ways of portraying reality
A few years after the end of World War II, something extremely significant took place in Austrian cinema. During this period (and, to be precise, in the early 1950s), numerous filmmakers wanted to finally create something new, moving away from the majority of productions of the time (the so-called Wiener Films), and experimenting with all the possibilities that the seventh art had to offer. In 1951, therefore, the director, painter and photographer Kurt Steinwendner made Der Rabe – based on the short story of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe – thus creating the first true experimental film in Austrian film history. And whilst this new approach to cinema itself would, over the years, become one of the true cornerstones of Austrian cinema – which sees experimental cinema as one of its most successful sectors – the figure of director Herbert Vesely is also particularly noteworthy in this regard, having made the film On these Evenings in 1952.
In On these Evenings, recently restored by Filmarchiv Austria and presented to the audience on the Filmarchiv On channel, we can see, therefore, how the very concept of direction is completely rethought. The story, adapted from a poem by Georg Trakl, is actually very simple and is presented here through a skilful elliptical structure: a young maid (played by Mara Ghosta) is seduced and then left alone by a farm labourer. Now alone, the woman is desperate.
A simple story, then, staged in a film full of interesting ideas. Completely devoid of dialogue, On these Evenings leaves the task of telling the protagonist’s story entirely to the images (accompanied by Gerhard Rühm’s minimalist music). The settings show us a world belonging to a bygone era and almost destined to fade away. Meanwhile, however, thanks to evocative wide shots, we see how the land itself (along with a deep religiosity) marks the passage of the protagonists’ days and is therefore treated here as a real character.
What particularly interests us in On these Evenings, however, is the special attention the director has chosen to pay to human bodies and gestures. The actors on set often opt for a purely theatrical style of acting. Their bodies (or parts of them) are sometimes lit as if they were ‘detached’ from the locations themselves. And whilst some short sequences are occasionally repeated in a loop, it is above all the intense close-ups and details that convey the protagonists’ emotions to us each time.
With On these Evenings, therefore, it had become clear which direction Austrian cinema was, in part, heading in. The desire to experiment was growing ever stronger. And so was the desire to leave behind a past that was perhaps a little too ‘burdensome’. Avant-garde cinema had by now found one of its ideal homes.
Original title: An diesen Abenden
Directed by: Herbert Vesely
Country/year: Austria / 1952
Running time: 23’
Genre: drama, experimental
Cast: Mara Ghosta, Reinhard Halbich, Ferry Radax
Screenplay: Herbert Vesely, Georg Trakl
Cinematography: Wilhelm E. Nassau, Hugo Holub
Produced by: Studio Peripherie