Prospero's Books

In this avant-garde retelling of Shakespeare's "The Tempest," Sir John Gielgud masterfully plays Prospero, an exiled magician who finds his desire for revenge muted when his daughter Miranda falls in love with Ferdinand, the son of his archenemy. As Prospero conceives, designs, rehearses, and performs the story unfolding before him, he becomes Shakespeare himself, conjuring a surreal world of mime, dance, opera, and animation. The film is an experimental masterpiece that combines elements of magical realism, digital image manipulation, and nudity in a bold exploration of humanity, power, and mortality.