The Turin Horse

The Turin Horse (A torinói ló, 2011) is a Hungarian drama by Béla Tarr — watch online on iFILM. A co-production spanning Hungary, Germany, France and Switzerland, the film runs 155 minutes and is shot entirely in black and white.

The premise begins with a biographical footnote: in early 1889, Friedrich Nietzsche collapsed weeping in a Turin street, embracing a horse that a coachman had been beating. Days later, his mind was gone. Tarr asks what became of the horse and its owner. The answer is six days with a farmer and his daughter — wind that never stops, boiled potatoes, a horse that refuses to eat, and routines quietly unravelling. Almost nothing is said. Almost everything falls apart.

Cinematographer Fred Kelemen composes each shot with long, unbroken takes that make time feel physical. The film took the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at Berlin. Tarr declared it his final work. Stream The Turin Horse (2011) on iFILM.