Why does The Turin Horse begin with Nietzsche?

The opening turns attention from Nietzsche to the horse and the household around it.

In a 2011 interview with Jonathan Romney, Béla Tarr recalls hearing László Krasznahorkai read the text that became the prologue. Its final question was “What happened to the horse?” Tarr then describes imagining a carter’s home and daughter.

This is his account of the film’s conception; it does not document the historical animal’s fate. You can follow that shift into their lives before reaching for a philosophical explanation.

What to expect

The severe repetitions turn routine into measurement. Tiny changes in dressing, eating, drawing water, and facing the storm give the film an apocalyptic scale without conventional spectacle.

How to ease in

Use the daily pattern as your guide. The film asks you to notice what is no longer possible each time the routine returns.

Heads-up

A quick, non-exhaustive note Includes animal distress, physical hardship, nihilistic themes, minimal dialogue, and extremely slow pacing.

Momo's Note Who is Momo? →

A father, a daughter, and a horse repeat the work of survival as wind and light begin to withdraw from their world.

I feel each ordinary task becoming precious only when it starts to fail. The film does not rush the end of a world; it lets disappearance enter one habit at a time.

Open the note ↓

I feel each ordinary task becoming precious only when it starts to fail. The film does not rush the end of a world; it lets disappearance enter one habit at a time.

— Momo

Where to go next

Want a gentler, shorter, or stranger next film? Ask Momo for something like this →
Momo is on shift. Visit Momo Cinema →

A contrasting watch Man with a Movie Camera → Repetition measuring disappearance contrasted with repetition celebrating urban energy. 1929 · Soviet Union

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