The Trial

In celebration of the film’s 60th anniversary, Orson Welles’ nightmarish masterpiece THE TRIAL (based on the novel by Franz Kafka) has just been released in a brand-new 4K restoration. Featuring a compelling performance from Anthony Perkins and with support from a further stellar cast including Jeanne Moreau, Romy Schneider and Akim Tamiroff, ‘The Trial’ remains one of Welles’ most accomplished films!

One day, Josef K. (A. Perkins) is rudely awoken when a man in a suit enters the bedroom in his apartment without identifying himself nor revealing the reasons for the intrusion. Minutes later, several detectives enter the apartment and place Josef under open arrest, once again no reasons are given. Josef then spots three of his colleagues from work in a neighbouring room, they have come to provide evidence against him for a crime that he has supposedly committed. The detectives then leave without taking Josef into custody. So begins a nightmarish journey…

When he has a brief conversation with his landlady Mrs. Grubach (Madeleine Robinson) whilst she prepares breakfast for him, she too has no idea as to why her tenant has fallen foul of the authorities but one possibility might be Miss Bürstner (J. Moreau), a neighbour with whom he may have had a fling – this is suggested by the fact that Josef enters Miss Bürstner’s apartment (who had just returned home hungover from her own birthday party) and kisses her before an argument prompts her to kick him out. Later that day, Josef goes to work in his office which looks like a totalitarian workplace with seemingly never-ending rows of precisely aligned desks and a workforce the size of an army rattling away on typewriters. When Josef’s under-aged teenage cousin knocks against a glass wall separating the office hall from the entrance hall, Josef’s supervisor assumes he may be having ‘improper’ relations with her and gives him a stern warning that if he values his career, he had better not see his cousin again. Despite his innocence, a bewildered Josef instructs a fellow employee to send the girl away. That same evening, Josef attends a performance at the local opera house but is led away by Police Inspector A. (Arnoldo Foá) and is brought to a courtroom where a grotesque scenario unfolds and Josef is once again informed that he must stand trial but is still not told what for.

Back in the office the following day, Josef happens to peep into a small room where the two police officers who came to his apartment are being whipped. Increasingly paranoid, Josef seeks advice from his uncle Max (Max Haufler) who in turn advises him to consult renowned law advocate Hastler (enter Orson Welles), beforehand, he encounters Hilda (Elsa Martinelli), the wife of a courtroom guard, as well as a room in which a group of pitiful looking men all await trial. When Josef finally gets to see Hastler he informs him that there is nothing he can do and that his fate has already been decided. Meanwhile, Hastler’s mistress Leni (Romy Schneider) begins to flirt with Josef and starts teasing him “You will spend tonight with me” before suggesting he visit artist Titorelli (William Chappell) but he too is unable to give any advice. Eventually, a priest (Michael Lonsdale) informs Josef that he has been sentenced to be executed and yet, still no reasons are given. On the evening before his 31st birthday, Josef is apprehended by two executioners and thus his fate is sealed…

With its threatening and bleak architecture - most outdoor scenes were shot in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, while the indoor sequences were shot in the labyrinthine and narrow corridors of Paris’ ruined Gare D’Orsay – the deliberately low ceilings and stark black and white photography heighten the feeling of claustrophobia.

Anthony Perkins is near perfect as an unassuming individual whose struggles against the system is doomed from the outset while exaggerated camera angles add to the general paranoia. Orson Welles clearly understood the essence of Kafka’s novel and masterfully brought it to screen. Praise must further go to cinematographer Edmond Richard.

THE TRIAL is available on UHD, Blu-ray, DVD and Digital. Bonus Features include Trailers, deleted scene, interview with actor Steven Berkoff, the featurette ‘Welles, Architect of Light’ plus the documentary ‘This Is Orson Welles’.