Philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (Clancy Chassay) is shown as a boy living a repressive upbringing, with his family wearing Roman togas. When the grown-up Wittgenstein (Karl Johnson) leaves to study under Bertrand Russell (Michael Gough) at the University of Cambridge, he begins to investigate the nature and limits of language. Wittgenstein's homosexuality is depicted when, after World War I, he falls in love with a poor philosophy student, Johnny (Kevin Collins).
His friends Bertrand Russell and Lady Ottoline Morrell (Tilda Swinton) lounge in silly costumes as they discuss the correspondence of Wittgenstein (Karl Johnson). An alien dwarf (Nabil Shaban), painted green and decorated with antennae and a xylophone, engages Wittgenstein in debates that illustrate some of the philosopher's thinking. When the young Wittgenstein conducts experiments in aeronautics, he is seen wielding two lawn sprinklers and angelic white wings. Wittgenstein's love for movies in general and Carmen Miranda in particular is explained with the image of a young boy wearing 3-D glasses, sucking on sweet ices and staring at a projector's beam in an empty theater.
Although the film explains itself now and then, director Derek Jarman seems to presume his audience is familiar with the obscure philosopher's life and times. The filmmaker devotes far more to three of the principals carrying colored balls to illustrate the paths of the sun, moon and earth, than he does to delivering information more directly. Wittgenstein is portrayed in dynamic terms, engaging in stunts and conversations that define his thinking rather than serving as the subject of a portrait. Every so often the film's dark wit works, as when the dying Wittgenstein tells John Maynard Keynes (John Quentin), "I'd quite like to have composed a philosophical work that consisted only of jokes."
"Why didn't you do it?" Keynes inquires.
"Sadly, I had no sense of humor," Wittgenstein says.
The film is emotional only when it describes Wittgenstein's relationships with his male lovers, and it reverberates with echoes of the present. "Philosophy is a sickness of the mind," says the worried Wittgenstein, who at one point finds himself in a birdcage, accompanied by a caged parrot. "I shouldn't infect too many young men." At its conclusion, the film's playful and more heartfelt aspects are fused in morbidly beautiful imagery representing the philosopher's death. The dwarf has his place in the last moments of "Wittgenstein" too. Finally, Wittgenstein's death at an early age from prostate cancer is shown.
"Wittgenstein" is a humorous portrait and series of sketches of Austrian-born British philosopher Ludwig Josef Johan Wittgenstein (1889-1951), a homosexual, and an intuitive, eccentric, moody, proud, and perfectionist thinker generally regarded as a genius. This dramatization of a philosophical giant shows a fascinating personality of a gay man who was ashamed of his sexuality. It's not played out in a traditional setting, but against a black backdrop where the actors and props are placed, as if in a theater setting. The film is visually beautiful and surreal, stylish, with perfect lighting, wild colors, and elegant music. Terry Eagleton's original screenplay was heavily rewritten by director Derek Jarman, radically altering the style and structure, although retaining much of Eagleton's dialogue. Jan Latham-Koenig composed the music score. Ken Butler, Terry Eagleton, and Derek Jarman wrote the screenplay.
