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The Trial

188 statements
35 feature instances
12 referencing feature instances

The Trial	type	TVTItem
The Trial	label	The Trial
The Trial	page	TheTrial
The Trial	comment	The Trial is a 1962 film written and directed by Orson Welles. It is an adaptation of the novel by Franz Kafka.Josef K. (Anthony Perkins, two years removed from his Star-Making Role in Psycho) is a white-collar worker in some nameless, vaguely European location. He awakes one day to find two ominous police officers—or at least they might be police officers, though they never show ID—in his room. The men, without introducing themselves or explaining why they're present in Josef's apartment, immediately begin interrogating him. Eventually they reveal that he is under arrest, although they do not tell him on what charge. Nor do they take him to any police station, instead allowing him to roam about freely, until one evening they take him from the audience at an opera and drag him to a tribunal.The hearing ends inconclusively, with Josef unable to even get the judges to explain what is the charge against him. Josef engages the services of Hastler, a lawyer (played by Welles), but Hastler doesn't seem too motivated to do anything on Josef's behalf. Josef's frustration continues to grow as he is unable to do anything to help himself or find out why he has been charged.The Trial was produced by Alexander Salkind, who would later find success with Superman: The Movie. Most of the film was shot in the real life train station Gare d'Orsay in Paris, which fit the mood well.note The station was used during World War II to deport Jews to the camps Other sequences, especially the exteriors, were shot in Yugoslavia and Croatia. The film was shot by cinematographer Edmond Richard who also worked on Chimes at Midnight (he would later work with Luis Buñuel), and the film is highly regarded for its black-and-white imagery. It was Welles's favorite of his own works and is commonly considered the best ever film adaptation of a Franz Kafka work.Jeanne Moreau plays Miss Burstner, Josef's attractive neighbor.
The Trial	fetched	2023-10-13T22:00:00Z
The Trial	parsed	2023-10-13T22:00:00Z
The Trial	processingComment	Dropped link to BigBrotherIsWatchingYou: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN
The Trial	processingComment	Dropped link to CallBack: Not a Feature - ITEM
The Trial	processingComment	Dropped link to DiedInIgnorance: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN
The Trial	processingUnknown	BigBrotherIsWatchingYou
The Trial	processingUnknown	Died in Ignorance
The Trial	isPartOf	DBTropes
The Trial / int_117b3429	type	A Taste of the Lash
The Trial / int_117b3429	comment	A Taste of the Lash: Josef reports the detectives who arrested him for ransacking his stuff and demanding bribes. Later he finds them being whipped with a rubber hose as punishment—for some reason, in a broom closet of the office where Josef works.
The Trial / int_117b3429	featureApplicability	1.0
The Trial / int_117b3429	featureConfidence	1.0
The Trial	hasFeature	The Trial / int_117b3429
The Trial / int_17640aa8	type	The Anti-Nihilist
The Trial / int_17640aa8	comment	The Anti-Nihilist: Josef becomes this in the end, realising that there's no true reason for his arrest or court he decides that he doesn't care in a way that is quite similar to Camus' idea of revolt):
The Trial / int_17640aa8	featureApplicability	1.0
The Trial / int_17640aa8	featureConfidence	1.0
The Trial	hasFeature	The Trial / int_17640aa8
The Trial / int_183b52	type	Kafka Komedy
The Trial / int_183b52	comment	Kafka Komedy: Yup. According to Welles, this is a literal example. He found it to be extremely funny, and considered it one of his best works. Certainly Josef K.'s ineffectual blundering, as he continually tries and fails to salvage his situation, can be seen as darkly comic. In many ways this was close to Kafka's original intentions who likewise considered his stories and books comedies and would often narrate it to his friends with a great deal of Corpsing.
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The Trial / int_183b52	featureConfidence	1.0
The Trial	hasFeature	The Trial / int_183b52
The Trial / int_1bcfe069	type	Absurdism
The Trial / int_1bcfe069	comment	Absurdism: It's a Kafka work after all.
The Trial / int_1bcfe069	featureApplicability	1.0
The Trial / int_1bcfe069	featureConfidence	1.0
The Trial	hasFeature	The Trial / int_1bcfe069
The Trial / int_1c79ae8c	type	Those Two Guys
The Trial / int_1c79ae8c	comment	Those Two Guys: Those three guys, in the case of the three men from Josef's office who informed on him, who show up at his apartment together, and are still standing together and watching him when Josef returns to work.
The Trial / int_1c79ae8c	featureApplicability	1.0
The Trial / int_1c79ae8c	featureConfidence	1.0
The Trial	hasFeature	The Trial / int_1c79ae8c
The Trial / int_1f799027	type	Obstructive Bureaucrat
The Trial / int_1f799027	comment	Obstructive Bureaucrat: All of them, as no one will help Josef or even explain why he's in trouble.
The Trial / int_1f799027	featureApplicability	1.0
The Trial / int_1f799027	featureConfidence	1.0
The Trial	hasFeature	The Trial / int_1f799027
The Trial / int_25b05c04	type	Hitler Cam
The Trial / int_25b05c04	comment	Hitler Cam: Orson Welles' Signature Shot, found in most of his films and used more than once in this one, starting with the scene where Josef is being interrogated by the police.
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The Trial	hasFeature	The Trial / int_25b05c04
The Trial / int_272abb98	type	Shoot the Shaggy Dog
The Trial / int_272abb98	comment	Shoot the Shaggy Dog: The story of a man shuffling endlessly through a bureaucracy to try to stave off his execution for a crime that is never explained to him.
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The Trial / int_3b39c254	type	Dystopia
The Trial / int_3b39c254	comment	Dystopia: A terrible, terrible place ruled by a totalitarian government. Notice that Josef K. isn't even all that surprised to find strange men in his room at the crack of dawn, interrogating him.
The Trial / int_3b39c254	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Trial / int_3ee5fd12	type	One-Letter Name
The Trial / int_3ee5fd12	comment	One-Letter Name: For protagonist Josef K.
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The Trial / int_3ee5fd12	featureConfidence	1.0
The Trial	hasFeature	The Trial / int_3ee5fd12
The Trial / int_407d3e6d	type	Morton's Fork
The Trial / int_407d3e6d	comment	Morton's Fork: Josef's denial of guilt is taken as an admission of it.
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The Trial	hasFeature	The Trial / int_407d3e6d
The Trial / int_4a8d9d4d	type	Non Sequitur Environment
The Trial / int_4a8d9d4d	comment	Non Sequitur Environment: Buildings occasionally fit together in bizarre, nonsensical ways with no logical connection - befitting the claim that the story is said to possess the logic of a dream or a nightmare. At one point, Josef K opens a door in Titorelli's dilapidated shack, only to find that it leads directly to the file room of the law court.
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The Trial	hasFeature	The Trial / int_4a8d9d4d
The Trial / int_4e3d253b	type	Downer Ending
The Trial / int_4e3d253b	comment	Downer Ending: Josef K. is chucked into a hole and blown up with a stick of dynamite. Of course, Josef gets in a Defiant to the End "Facing the Bullets" One-Liner that he didn't have in that Kafka book. Welles admitted that this was deliberate because he felt that it wouldn't be possible to have Kafka's story end the way it did in a post-Holocaust era.
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The Trial / int_4eddbc06	type	Animated Credits Opening
The Trial / int_4eddbc06	comment	Animated Credits Opening: The opening parable of the man before the gate to the Law is presented as a series of "pin-screen" pictures in which pins are stuck through a screen and lit. It was done by the master Alexandre Alexieff and his wife Claire Parker. Technically it isn't animation as there's no illusion of motion, with the sequence being a series of stills, but the effect is the same.
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The Trial / int_4eddbc06	featureConfidence	1.0
The Trial	hasFeature	The Trial / int_4eddbc06
The Trial / int_54a85cfa	type	Law Procedural
The Trial / int_54a85cfa	comment	Law Procedural: Sort of, although there doesn't seem to be any real law or justice, and the verdict of the court is capricious. In one scene Josef opens up a law book and finds pictures of naked ladies inside.
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The Trial / int_54a85cfa	featureConfidence	1.0
The Trial	hasFeature	The Trial / int_54a85cfa
The Trial / int_5d3e7c6	type	Kangaroo Court
The Trial / int_5d3e7c6	comment	Kangaroo Court: The court that tries Josef, which clearly isn't interested in anything he has to say.
The Trial / int_5d3e7c6	featureApplicability	1.0
The Trial / int_5d3e7c6	featureConfidence	1.0
The Trial	hasFeature	The Trial / int_5d3e7c6
The Trial / int_5f91efd9	type	Creative Closing Credits
The Trial / int_5f91efd9	comment	Creative Closing Credits: Creative lack of closing credits. Instead, the film ends with a freeze frame, whereupon Welles's narration states that The Trial was an adaptation of a Kafka novel, then lists all the actors in order of appearance. Welles ends his narration by identifying himself as the actor who played the advocate, as well as the writer and director of the picture. (The technical credits are then presented in the ordinary way.)
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The Trial	hasFeature	The Trial / int_5f91efd9
The Trial / int_67fedd35	type	Bizarrchitecture
The Trial / int_67fedd35	comment	Bizarrchitecture: Many odd-looking buildings that don't fit together well. Josef K's office is in an oddly huge, cavernous building (in Real Life the Gare d'Orsay train station in Paris, which had been closed down). Most dramatic is the scene in which Josef opens a door in Titorelli the artist's dilapidated wooden shack, only to find that it opens directly to the file room of the law court, the shack apparently butting up right against the law court's wall.
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The Trial / int_6f19054d	type	Coming-Out Story
The Trial / int_6f19054d	comment	Coming-Out Story: According to Welles, The Trial was about a young gay man discovering his sexuality.
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The Trial / int_6f19054d	featureConfidence	1.0
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The Trial / int_75e2bf23	type	Chiaroscuro
The Trial / int_75e2bf23	comment	Chiaroscuro: Lots of moody shadowy lighting in the cavernous depths of the law courts or Josef's office.
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The Trial / int_75e2bf23	featureConfidence	1.0
The Trial	hasFeature	The Trial / int_75e2bf23
The Trial / int_84764598	type	Dramatic Thunder
The Trial / int_84764598	comment	Dramatic Thunder: This is used a lot for the creepy scene in which Josef has his interview with Hastler, who is supposed to be his advocate, but in reality is just as creepy and intimidating as the law court.
The Trial / int_84764598	featureApplicability	1.0
The Trial / int_84764598	featureConfidence	1.0
The Trial	hasFeature	The Trial / int_84764598
The Trial / int_966da803	type	Defiant to the End
The Trial / int_966da803	comment	Of course, Josef gets in a Defiant to the End "Facing the Bullets" One-Liner that he didn't have in that Kafka book. Welles admitted that this was deliberate because he felt that it wouldn't be possible to have Kafka's story end the way it did in a post-Holocaust era.
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The Trial / int_966da803	featureConfidence	1.0
The Trial	hasFeature	The Trial / int_966da803
The Trial / int_a183f4c3	type	Skeleton Government
The Trial / int_a183f4c3	comment	Skeleton Government: The Court can be seen as this. It is a powerful institution perceived to be unreachable, but nothing is actually known about it. It could be a democracy and executing the legitimate will of the people. It's not even known if the highest levels of the Court are actually unreachable, because no one in the novel even tries. Heck, we don't have definite proof that it exists, leading to: There Is No Higher Court: A very plausible theory.
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The Trial / int_a183f4c3	featureConfidence	1.0
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The Trial / int_a2a8c6b6	type	Bewildering Punishment
The Trial / int_a2a8c6b6	comment	Bewildering Punishment: Josef never does learn what he's being tried for.
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The Trial / int_a2a8c6b6	featureConfidence	1.0
The Trial	hasFeature	The Trial / int_a2a8c6b6
The Trial / int_a412cd2b	type	Lens Flare
The Trial / int_a412cd2b	comment	Lens Flare: Seen when Hastler is using a projector to show the drawings from the parable of the gate to the Law that previously opened the film.
The Trial / int_a412cd2b	featureApplicability	1.0
The Trial / int_a412cd2b	featureConfidence	1.0
The Trial	hasFeature	The Trial / int_a412cd2b
The Trial / int_a6cda066	type	Rule of Three
The Trial / int_a6cda066	comment	Rule of Three: Three different women flirt with and/or try to seduce Josef—his neighbor Miss Burstner, Hilda the cleaning lady at the law court, and Leni, Hastler's nurse/mistress.
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The Trial / int_a6cda066	featureConfidence	1.0
The Trial	hasFeature	The Trial / int_a6cda066
The Trial / int_ad1db87c	type	Oh, Crap!
The Trial / int_ad1db87c	comment	Oh, Crap!: Josef gets a pretty good one when he is led into his interrogation room and finds out that it's an auditorium filled with hundreds of people.
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The Trial / int_ad1db87c	featureConfidence	1.0
The Trial	hasFeature	The Trial / int_ad1db87c
The Trial / int_adfd3165	type	For the Evulz
The Trial / int_adfd3165	comment	For the Evulz: Is there any other possible reason why the guard made the man wait before the gate to the Law, a gate that was made only for him, until the man died?
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The Trial / int_adfd3165	featureConfidence	1.0
The Trial	hasFeature	The Trial / int_adfd3165
The Trial / int_b3b1b9d2	type	There Is No Higher Court
The Trial / int_b3b1b9d2	comment	There Is No Higher Court: A very plausible theory.
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The Trial / int_b3b1b9d2	featureConfidence	1.0
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The Trial / int_bd0230fb	type	Ambiguously Bi
The Trial / int_bd0230fb	comment	Ambiguously Bi: Hastler has a gorgeous woman for a mistress, while his odd little speech in which he says accused men are "attractive" strongly hints that he's also attracted to men.
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The Trial / int_bd0230fb	featureConfidence	1.0
The Trial	hasFeature	The Trial / int_bd0230fb
The Trial / int_cd652c84	type	Gate of Truth
The Trial / int_cd652c84	comment	Gate of Truth: The opening story of the door to the Law is a subversion, in that the man trying to enter the gate that leads to the law itself never gets to enter despite spending an entire lifetime trying to learn the required price.
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The Trial / int_cd652c84	featureConfidence	1.0
The Trial	hasFeature	The Trial / int_cd652c84
The Trial / int_d8d22bb0	type	Dutch Angle
The Trial / int_d8d22bb0	comment	Dutch Angle: Used on occasion to emphasize Josef's fear and paranoia, like in the opening scene when he first sees the policeman in his room.
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The Trial / int_d8d22bb0	featureConfidence	1.0
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The Trial / int_dea5fe1	type	Kubrick Stare
The Trial / int_dea5fe1	comment	Kubrick Stare: Hastler, who likes to lounge in bed while talking to people, gets off some of these when addressing Josef.
The Trial / int_dea5fe1	featureApplicability	1.0
The Trial / int_dea5fe1	featureConfidence	1.0
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The Trial / int_e7e558	type	The Oner
The Trial / int_e7e558	comment	The Oner: The first appearance of the policeman in Josef's room and the subsequent interrogation is done in a single four-minute take.
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The Trial / int_name	type	ItemName
The Trial / int_name	comment
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The Trial	hasFeature	The Trial / int_name
The Trial / int_name	itemName	The Trial

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

The Trial	hasFeature	Animated Credits Opening / int_9eb9be9f
The Trial	hasFeature	Bewildering Punishment / int_9eb9be9f
The Trial	hasFeature	Big Labyrinthine Building / int_9eb9be9f
The Trial	hasFeature	Bizarrchitecture / int_9eb9be9f
The Trial	hasFeature	Definite Article Title / int_9eb9be9f
The Trial	hasFeature	Gate of Truth / int_9eb9be9f
The Trial	hasFeature	Hitler Cam / int_9eb9be9f
The Trial	hasFeature	Kafka Komedy / int_9eb9be9f
The Trial	hasFeature	No Full Name Given / int_9eb9be9f
The Trial	hasFeature	Ontological Mystery / int_9eb9be9f
The Trial	hasFeature	The Oner / int_9eb9be9f
The Trial	hasFeature	You Know What You Did / int_9eb9be9f

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