The Turin Horse (2012)
85%RT Audience Score: 77%
Awards & Nominations: 7 wins & 15 nominations
Uncompromisingly bold and hauntingly beautiful, Bela Tarr’s bleak parable tells a simple story with weighty conviction
The Turin Horse” is a film that’s been described as a “meditation on death” and a “supreme metaphysical experience.” But let’s be real, it’s also a two-and-a-half-hour movie about a horse. Sure, it’s a really pretty horse, and the black-and-white cinematography is stunning, but if you’re not into slow-paced, artsy films, this one might not be for you. However, if you’re feeling existential and want to ponder the meaning of life while watching a horse and its owner struggle to survive, then go ahead and give “The Turin Horse” a shot.
Production Company(ies)
BRON Studios, Bron Creative MACRO
Distributor
Cinema Guild
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
Hungary
MPAA / Certificate
Not Rated
Year of Release
2011
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Color:Color
Black and White -
Sound mix:Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:1.66 : 1
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Runtime:2h 26m
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Language(s):Hungarian, German
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Feb 10, 2012 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 23, 2017
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
The Turin Horse, Drama, 2h 26m, directed by Béla Tarr and Ágnes Hranitzky, starring János Derzsi, Erika Bok, Mihály Kormos, written by Béla Tarr, produced by Cinema Guild, Hungarian language, parable, windstorm, abused horse, poor farmer, daughter, bleak, hauntingly beautiful, uncompromisingly bold, weighty conviction, critics consensus, Tomatometer, audience score, limited release, streaming, rent/buy, Cinema Guild, reviewed by J Hoberman, Mark Feeney, Kieron Corless, Tara Brady, Peter Bradshaw, Nigel Andrews, Jordan M Smith, Vladan Petkovic, Josh Larsen, Mattie Lucas, Daniel Green, Kelly Jane Torrance, allegorical meditation, death, duration, endurance, Bresson, Bergman, Dreyer, final darkness, metaphysical meditation, human cruelty, simplistic repetition, vexing soundtrack, black-and-white, somber, naturalistic aesthetic, slow-paced, mesmerizing, microcosm, hard life, windstorm, brandy
Worldwide gross: $162,088
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $213,389
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,919
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 23,270
US/Canada gross: $56,391
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $74,239
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,706
US/Canada opening weekend: $9,145
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $12,039
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,668
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Erika Bok – Ohlsdorfer’s Daughter
Mihály Kormos – Bernhard
Béla Tarr – Director
Ágnes Hranitzky – Director
Director(s)
Béla Tarr, Ágnes Hranitzky
Writer(s)
NA
Producer(s)
NA
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
7 wins & 15 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (63) | Top Critics (25) | Fresh (56) | Rotten (7)
This great poem on the end of the world is truly a film for the ages. It can’t really be described, but only lived.
September 18, 2014
J. Hoberman
ARTINFO.com
TOP CRITIC
“The Turin Horse” is a parable, which means it’s both very simple and very weighty. It’s not about event and emotion, but duration and endurance.
June 28, 2012 | Rating: 3.5/4
Mark Feeney
Boston Globe
TOP CRITIC
[Tarr’s] most direct and overtly compassionate film.
June 18, 2012
Kieron Corless
Sight & Sound
TOP CRITIC
Don’t miss this two-and-half hour allegorical meditation on death. No, really.
June 2, 2012 | Rating: 5/5
Tara Brady
Irish Times
TOP CRITIC
The movie exerts an eerie grip, with echoes of Bresson, Bergman and Dreyer, but is utterly distinctive: a vision of a world going inexorably into a final darkness.
May 31, 2012 | Rating: 4/5
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian
TOP CRITIC
Thrilling, beautiful and nearly heart-stopping…
May 31, 2012 | Rating: 5/5
Nigel Andrews
Financial Times
TOP CRITIC
Béla Tarr’s supposed career finale is a supreme metaphysical meditation on death and human cruelty that lulls us into a state of despondent surrender with simplistic repetition and a truly vexing soundtrack.
November 19, 2020
Jordan M. Smith
IONCINEMA.com
Perfect framing.
August 11, 2020
Vladan Petkovic
Cineuropa
…austerely captures humanity’s basic struggle, while recognizing in that struggle a certain dignity.
January 16, 2020 | Rating: 3.5/4
Josh Larsen
LarsenOnFilm
At once elegiac and fiercely relevant. Tarr is not content to go quietly into that good night.
August 6, 2019 | Rating: 4/4
Mattie Lucas
From the Front Row
Maligned by some due to its crawling pace and monotonous repetition, there is still something inexplicably mesmerising and entrancing about Tarr’s reputed last film.
January 8, 2019 | Rating: 4/5
Daniel Green
CineVue
The Turin Horse is a strikingly beautiful black-and-white film… But then, not much happens in it.
January 4, 2019 | Rating: 2.5/4
Kelly Jane Torrance
Washington Examiner…
Plot
A poor farmer and his daughter face the end of their world as a monumental windstorm and an abused horse’s refusal to work or eat signal their downfall in this hauntingly beautiful and uncompromisingly bold drama.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
No goofy or funny or odd comments were found in the Fresh Kernels database for “The Turin Horse.”
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