Heart of Glass (film)
8.6 /10 1 Votes
4/4 Roger Ebert Music director Popol Vuh | 7.2/10 88% Genre Drama Duration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date 17 December 1976 (1976-12-17) Cast (Hias), Stefan Güttler (Hüttenbesitzer), (Adalbert, the servant), Sonja Skiba (Ludmilla), Volker Prechtel (Wudy), Brunhilde Klöckner (Paulin)Similar movies Inside Out , Lost Highway , Inception , Youth , The Matrix Revolutions , Dust Devil |
In a rural community, a local artist known for making brilliant glass sculptures dies without passing on to anyone the skills of his trade. Huttenbesitzer (Stefan Guttler), who owns the towns glass factory, obsessively attempts to recover the deceased artists lost knowledge. The villagers employed by Huttenbesitzer also become bewitched by the secrets of glass. Despite the warnings of Hias (Josef Bierbichler), who claims to be a prophet, the possessed locals slowly descend into madness.
Contents
- A scene from werner herzog s heart of glass
- Plot
- Heart of glass a werner herzog film
- Production
- References

Heart of Glass (German: ) is a 1976 German film directed and produced by Werner Herzog, set in 18th century Bavaria. The film was written by Herzog, based partly on a story by Herbert Achternbusch. The main character is "Hias," based on the legendary Bavarian prophet Muhlhiasl.

A small Bavarian village is renowned for its "Ruby Glass" glass blowing works. When the foreman of the works dies suddenly without revealing the secret of the Ruby Glass, the town slides into a deep depression, and the owner of the glassworks becomes obssessed with the lost secret.
A scene from werner herzog s heart of glass
Plot
The setting is an 18th-century Bavarian town with a glassblowing factory that produces a brilliant red ruby glass. When the master glass blower dies, the secret to producing the ruby glass is lost. The local Baron and factory owner is obsessed with the ruby glass and believes it to have magical properties. With the loss of the secret, he soon descends into madness along with the rest of the townspeople. The main character is Hias, a seer from the hills, who predicts the destruction of the factory in a fire.
Heart of glass a werner herzog film
Production
During shooting, almost all of the actors performed while under hypnosis. Every actor in every scene was hypnotized, with the exception of the character Hias and the professional glassblowers who appear in the film. The hypnotized actors give very strange performances, which Herzog intended to suggest the trance-like state of the townspeople in the story. Herzog provided the actors with most of their dialogue, memorised during hypnosis. However, many of the hypnotised actors gestures and movements occurred spontaneously during filming.
The majority of the film was shot in Bavaria, just a few miles from where Herzog was raised in the remote village of Sachrang (nestled in the Chiemgau Alps), and also at a nearby village in Switzerland. Other brief shots of landscape scenes were filmed in various locations around the world that Herzog scouted out, including Yellowstone National Park. The conclusion of the film was shot on the Skellig Islands.
Herzog, along with other members of the crew, has a cameo as one of the men carrying a load of ruby glass to the river.
References
Heart of Glass (film) WikipediaHeart of Glass (film) IMDbHeart of Glass (film) Roger EbertHeart of Glass (film) Rotten TomatoesHeart of Glass (film) themoviedb.org