Understanding Nietzsche’s Connection to The Turin Horse

The Turin Horse (A torinói ló, 2011) opens with a narrator speaking of Nietzsche's mental collapse on the streets of Turin after witnessing a cabman brutalize a horse. The resulting film tells the story of this cabman, his daughter, and their horse, but the philosopher is never mentioned again. Instead, the film oozes details of Nietzsche's philosophy, especially his concept of eternal return. This video explores that connection by explaining eternal return and how it relates to The Turin Horse.
This video is based on an essay I wrote for The Movement Image film journal. To read the journal for free, visit jet-tone.press...

[@coyotesong]

Deeply fascinating. I've been exploring Nietzsche's thought in my 74th year and finally feel like I'm getting it. I tried a number of times over many years and didn't get very far. This visual essay is truly amazing as is the film under discussion.

[@themovementimage]

Thanks for the kind words! Glad the video had helped you on your journey.

[@TheSaltydog07]

I'm 70. This film affects me deeply and i can't explain why.

[@violinsinthevoid4579]

This channel needs to get known! This is great.

[@themovementimage]

Ha! Thanks for the nice comment. I’m working on more stuff and should have another video soon.

[@loseyourmind420]

The movie and this video hit me right when I needed desperately. I am having a hard time with my life, people around me and I definetly need a change things for good, even if it doesn't work. Waiting things to get better has cost me a so much time and energy, eventually I become very ill with my life and my mind, even just a little different step to try, is better than no effort, just whining.

[@themovementimage]

Good luck with everything! Change is hard, but it's important in life. Life can be difficult, but don't forget that there are always great times ahead. Thanks for your comment.

[@sky44david]

You have made an excellent in depth consideration of Bella Tarr's final film. It is interesting to note that the last part of the 1800's and into the early 1900's, Eastern Europe and most especially Northern Hungary experienced devastating drought and persistent arid wind.

[@themovementimage]

Thanks so much! Wow, I never knew that. Seems clear that the film is also drawing from reality.

[@morphchoir]

Thank you for making this. I’d been wishing someone would make a video like this for the film and it didn’t disappoint. Subscribed.

[@mhnoni]

This movie reminded me of the game "Limbo". This movie was so hopeless, every movie you watch you get something from it, this movie had none, almost like Bernhard said, to surrender and accept the fact that you already lost. the total silence between the father and the daughter was so devastating and very painful for me. I liked the movie but the message behind it is very bad, the character had no controller over their life which made their life so meaningless and so sad. I wouldn't recommend this movie to people who have depression.

[@ScorpionFiore]

As a long time Tarr lover, thank you for adding some in-depth significance and open a further door into Nietzsche’s world. Tarr films are impressive and moving even just for the aesthetics, and the meaning you can get on your own by watching and feeling them, but explanations, interpretations are always welcome and add more and more value. Of course Tarr’s interview are awesome and his words are a continuum with his film operas. I admit I have to learn a lot from Nietsche’s words and thoughts and this video is a good beginning, thank you very much

[@themovementimage]

Thanks so much for your kind words! Glad the video was helpful for you

[@loge10]

I'm with the rest of these positive comments. Very well done and thoughtful essay on a film that has deeply affected me. I think you nailed it in how our current circumstances have put many of us (most of us?) in the state of the characters of this film - even those of affluence.

[@mubeen316]

Wow, this channel is a gem. Thank you!

[@seanc7681]

Another good one- I happened to watch this movie and read The Joyful Science this summer, but never explicitly made the connection between Nietzsche’s eternal return and the film…I was thinking of it in terms of different philosophers, like Ernest Becker and Camus. Thanks!

[@themovementimage]

Glad it was of use to you. Thanks for the kind words!

[@milascave2]

Nietzsche did not remain totally mute during his long period of a near vegetative state. He faded in and out. At one point he looked at the books on the shelf and said "Are those books?" "Yes," he was told. "Didn't I once also write very good books?" He asked. But these brief moments of semi-lucidity were the exception, not the rule.

[@themovementimage]

Oh wow, I had never heard that! Thanks for sharing!

[@ulbudhiya7360]

Thank you for this video essay. I am new into the world of Indie Films and this video helps me to understand the film better. I think now I have to watch this film again.

[@themovementimage]

Thanks for the kind words! Glad you enjoyed it.

[@ferouihamza]

great analysis man, you deserve way more subscribers.

[@themovementimage]

Aw thanks! Appreciate the kind words.

[@andreeadobre3190]

It's worth noting that in the neighbour long take the camera follows the bottle from (almost) beginning to end. This is not about what he says, it's about everything is shit, let's get drunk to forget. We don't see what happens to the gypsies or what is beyond the hill when they try to leave at the end or how much the neighbour is actually doing in life besides drinking, so I tend to believe the film is much bleaker than empowering. Congrats for this great video. I could go on for hours about how much I love Tarr's work and why, but let's just say he made the perfect film about 2020 in 2011.

[@rob3rtlaw]

This is fantastic, thanks for putting the effort and thought in to make it

[@themovementimage]

Thanks so much! I really appreciate your kind words

[@yusufyusuf7913]

I like the fact that you used "werckmeister harmonies " sound music which is one of bela tarr films like the turin horse is

[@themovementimage]

Thanks! I thought the music fit the video well

[@yusufyusuf7913]

​@@themovementimageyes all bela tarr films are one artistical paint , Watching a paint dries, his films has poetry inside them, they stay with as long enough to actually remind the whole film in your mind it's sticks , like satantango it never got out of my head and i consider this masterpiece to be the greatest achievement in all the history of art it's unforgettable either you liked it or not , and werckmeister harmonies ahh it's a poem and a great message to the world with its stricking cinematography and acting and great scens and dialogues and symbolism and......

[@fr0nzp]

Awesome video. The monologue and the intro sequences are impressive as hell, will probably never forget those scenes.

[@justshoby3374]

A genius analysis, and a fresh beautiful perspective 👌 💎

[@themovementimage]

Thanks so much! I really appreciate the kind words

[@jdoylewallis2948]

Nice job. And, minor note, love that the image of an instrument is a Lee Ranadlo Jazzmaster.

[@themovementimage]

Hahaha yes!!! You’re the first one to notice that!

[@rhlkiller420]

Great essay man, incredibly well done 👍👍

[@themovementimage]

Thanks! Hope you check out my other stuff!

[@a.r.c8021]

Does anyone else notice the similarities with the Turin Horse and the scene in Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment of Raskolnikov’s childhood memory of the people beating up the horse?

[@jeffmertick3074]

Totally! Nietzsche was a great admirer of Dostoevsky. Maybe there is a connection. I could be wrong but I believe there was another reference to a horse being beaten in the Brothers Karamazov as well. Hearing the beginning of the film my mind went straight to Crime and Punishment though. You are not the only one.

[@TheUlumpa]

Amazing work man 👏👏👏

[@telegdiaron]

a good basic line of interpretation. I was convinced at the moment you mentioned them looking out the window as a proof of their humanity/desires.

[@ximono]

To me, it was an act of resignation. At best hoping that something out there will change for the better, but even that only a fading or already faded hope.

[@MrInterestingthings]

Wonderful explanation of the film . I was in love with itssurface beauty didn't quite get the complacency and mindless , listless non-effort of these commonhuman beings . The irony of the gypsy bernhard's rant and the devastating environment of the horsemen and hisdaughter ! Habitual acceptance just living repetitiously in life versus .vitally alive acting choices with self-actualized achievement . "Complacent with our own exploitation and going through the motions in life and not being really alive !

[@santidal]

Great analysis! Thanks!

[@themovementimage]

Thank you for the kind words!

[@diegohayes5056]

Great interpretation! Thanks for sharing

[@TheUlumpa]

Great video man, keep on ❤

[@akpakp369]

What a beautiful Movie 🎥🎥🎥😍

[@CorkBouldering]

the movie explains how far from reality was Nietzsche at the end of his journey and to understand this you'll have to watch other Bella Tar movies.

[@justanothermortal1373]

Could you please explain why he was so deluded from reality? I'm genuinely interested.

[@amartyaray238]

Very well done video! Make one about how Eternal Return is referenced by Tarkovsky in scenes and themes of Sacrifice 🌸

[@themovementimage]

Great idea! Glad you enjoyed the video

[@marklee1376]

This film is masterpiece and one of the most disturbing non-horror film I've ever seen!

[@BeniMathe]

Watch dealer from Benedek Flieaguf

[@m.kaundiniya9238]

Do u even have idea what u are saying.. U just said it all ...🤐it's just mind-blowing.

[@CrisURace]

Thank you!

[@markmiddaugh9359]

Thank You!

[@mr.sushi2221]

Really really glad I’m watching this stuff before the film. I want to understand what Bella was trying to say and I’m honestly not educated enough in what he was talking about to understand the film rn.

[@Endymion766]

Interesting interpretation. I didn't get any of that from the movie, myself. My general feeling that it's a deconstruction of Thus Spoke Zarathustra. We see a horse and man that have both worked hard their entire lives to self-actualize and all they have to show for it is a decrepit farm house. At some point the engine of passion seizes and refuses to start again. Then what? Well then the story pretty much comes to an end, not with a bang but with a dim light and barely audible whimper. So would you like to eternally return to throwing yourself into endless grind just to end up with barely anything to show for it? Or would it maybe be better to slack off and have fun once in a while at the expense of self improvement? If you knew that all your self improvement was barely going to mount to anything, would you even bother? I probably wouldn't. I think that's why Nietzsche said his last words. Maybe he realized his own argument undoes itself and that humans dont' have much in the way of free will after all. I think it's good to try and see what one can do for himself, but sacrificing oneself for some lofty idea of self-improvement, gets the opposite result. I say try hard, but give up shortly if the try doesn't yield results. And if nothing is giving results, then give up everything, and live a gentle peaceful life.

[@migueldreiercarol5982]

Great video :)

[@themovementimage]

Thanks!

[@ar6088]

This is interesting, IMO going against conformity is basically to take, which probably goes against someone else's desire, and perhaps ironically perpetuates the lack of such. Empathy is key.

[@adamgrimsley2900]

Can a masterpiece be tedious?

[@barrymoore4470]

Yes, I think this is possible. The late Pauline Kael once observed that all great works of narrative art have their longueurs.

[@adamgrimsley2900]

@@barrymoore4470 great critic but not sure I agree.

[@adamgrimsley2900]

The subject of monotony is certinaly explored.

[@Grimscribe732]

This is such a good metaphor for the current state of the German government. Keep trying the same as ever, no matter the circumstances, just keep going through the bureaucratic motions.

[@tanramazan]

Lütfen Türkçe altyazı seçeneğini de ekler misiniz ?

[@csermenyizsombor]

You should watch these six (?) days as if they were the rewind version of the Creation.

[@ximono]

That's an interesting perspective. The decreation of the world.

[@markpowell4615]

The problem I have with 'eternal return' is that Nietzsche's call to action and wise-decision making (because we'll have to repeatedly relive our lives just as they have been with no changes for all eternity) only works if this life is the first iteration of our many (indeed, infinite) lives. If it isn't (and, statistically, it's unlikely to be), then we cannot act and make decisions to optimise all the lives we'll live because our first life has already determined those lives and we are without free will - will, the very thing Nietzsche seems to revere above all else is something we only have once and never again. And, in any case, how would one know what is will and what is determined?

[@user-wt3qv5lw9u]

Great ❤

[@voyagetoart3115]

Is your name taken from Deleuze?

[@themovementimage]

Yep!

[@tylerbugh1]

This is kinda way off, though it can be seen as a push for us to stop living a mundane life...the eternal return wasnt a thought experiment like so many these days assume..it was a new answer, the "core principle" of his teaching...it was, in the wake of God's death, a new higher standard upon which to reevaluate all of our values and a way of justifying everything whatsoever, whether that fills one with pain joy ecstacy transgression etc...this was one's greatest weight..also he's clearly not an advocate for the doctrine of free will. The whole "the things that eternally recur are choices" is directly opposed to what nietzsche was saying. To most beings, a choice is an impossibility

[@themovementimage]

I disagree. Insofar as eternal return is a standard by which we should judge our actions, it is a thought experiment. And the things that eternally recur ARE choices, and Nietzsche says we must take the harder road in these choices if we’re to become who we should strive to be. I am not implying that Nietzsche is an advocate for free will, I’m saying he believes there is a correct choice among those we’re confronted with that affirms our will and-again- allows us to become closer to the self we should strive to be.

[@Nepidemicofmannequins]

💖❤️💟💗

[@Indianpsychonaut]

The whole point of the movie is to not watch it & accomplish your goals. The antidote of boredom is change in patterns

[@asapfilms2519]

I have been studying Vedic philosophy. Time and Space are different for different beings. We are not the center of the universe. But time and space creates that illusion. Our entire understanding of our universe is based on our experience of time and space. But what is time and what is space. Light was earlier thought of as a particle then new research shows that light is a wave also. Science just keeps going around in circles. Time and space are still a mystery for science. The other problem with human beings is that we cannot differentiate between truth and lies. We can only differentiate between what we believe and what we don’t want to. And that is why we are always trapped in a limited understanding of our universe. All our technology are only extensions of our senses. Translating a world that we cannot see here or feel into something that we can. The telescope is an extension of the eyes. It translates invisible thing to visible things. But its not the real thing. It is a perspective that has been changed to suit our senses. Man is a prisoner of his senses. Tarr just like Rohtko has drawn an empty canvas on an empty canvas without drawing an empty canvas. That is why there can be a million different interpretations of it. Therefore every interpretation of the film will like the interpretation of this universe. Limited to our own understanding of our own self.

[@jupazas580]

mas o menos

[@edwardstafford4994]

Groundhog Day proposed the same uniformity each day. Is It is our response to perhaps the mundane that sets us apart. I’ve never viewed Christianity as a millers wheel. If life is about choices, how much wider of an expanse is needed between good and evil?

[@barrymoore4470]

Christianity postulates an end to history, the cessation of time with God's last judgment of the world. Nietzsche's hypothetical scenario of an endlessly repeating sequence of earthly experience is contrary to Christian expectation, which I think is one of the points being made in the clip here, that we are witnessing a world without God or in which God has died. This would be consistent with Nietzsche's thought that man has killed God, and must assume all responsibility for his life, for good or for ill.

[@godisonegodhaswon5957]

If you look at the destiny of the father of nihilism Nietzsche you'll see that in 1889 he ended up hugging a horse that was being abused by a person he became angry at the person then He realized that something deep inside of him his innate sense told them that this was an injustice and that hurting an animal an innocent animal was wrong However that conflicted completely with his worldview and everything that he had spewed up until that point all the books he wrote all the hate he put out into the world that led pretty much to World War II in the next century and European nihilism This caused him to "go crazy" thereafter he suffered a mental breakdown and ended up dying in a mental institution 11 years later in 1900 where he would repeat the phrases "are you happy with this circus? for I am the architect of it!" and "Mother, I am dumb." until he died I guess he had a self realization that nothing leads to nothing and believe thereto likewise will render you to nothing

[@des.esseintes]

the Turin Horse story is most likely not true, you're reading a lot of psychology into a myth. Also strange to psychologize him without mentioning his massive amount of mental disorders

[@godisonegodhaswon5957]

@@des.esseintes I did mention his mental disorders I dont think you read the comment in its entirety

[@godisonegodhaswon5957]

@@des.esseintes After seeing a horse being whipped in the streets of Turin, Italy, Nietzsche had a mental breakdown that put him in an asylum for the rest of his life. Nietzsche is reported to have run over to the horse and held it in his arm to protect it before he collapsed to the ground. The scene was also the subject a movie by Bela Tarr (whom Jacques Ranciere wrote a bookabout) called The Turin Horse. According to Botton, after the horse incident Nietzsche “returned to his boarding house, danced naked” and thought of shooting the Kaiser. Botton continues to explain that Nietzsche began to believe himself to be Jesus, Napoleon, Buddha and other historical figures. Nietzsche’s family threw him into asylum where he died 11 years later at the age of 56." From the author of, "The Antichrist", to believing he was Christ, that is the destiny of the father of nihilism at the end.

[@des.esseintes]

@@godisonegodhaswon5957 1. you make no reference to his disorders just the ensuing break down 2. I am well aware of the story there just is absolutely no proof of it and is theorized to be cribbed from dostoyevsky, I don’t see any reason to read psychology into writing in the first place tbh, but especially not into what is considered by most to be a myth

[@godisonegodhaswon5957]

@@des.esseintes what's the need to mention specific disorders? Is this a psychology class? Thank you for your subjective normative opinion.

[@kremesauce]

To genuinely ask is it more appropriate to say eternal return or eternal recurrence?

[@artistologyworld596]

Great work but you went to philosophy and ignored art intellect

[@MargaritaMagdalena]

Heck, why not subscribe It's all pointless anyway 🤣

[@themovementimage]

Hahaha that’s the spirit!

[@tylerbugh1]

The real Turin Horse incident most likely never happened

[@Kyarareads]

Yeah idk i dont think the maker of this video knows a lot about nietzsche and his misdiagnosis of syphilis

[@coryleblanc]

man you talk fast, just slow down

[@Tweenythepriest]

What? He's very moderate-paced, with very clear diction. I don't agree that he's fast at all.

[@mrtunapie6653]

Sounds ok to me, but try again. Click on 'settings' and then playback speed.

[@ximono]

It's just the culture and time we're living in, people talk faster than they used to

[@aman11337400]

You Exist.

[@Sidiciousify]

You have a unibrow.

[@aman11337400]

@@Sidiciousify my genetics, out of my hand.

[@Impaled_Onion-thatsmine]

No I don't, I don't even believe in myself. I'm not even in the algorithm. Even the blood pressure machine said I'm a 0. They give you a piece of paper to tell you exist. They think I'm some handicap kid with the same name for 20 years. I imagine he had the same issue then all these trancdental ideals emerge from it's antithesis of the duality, he picks him up. If you see the last years he got the labourer card, horses must like him, we don't know what he ate, we ate them. But I wouldn't eat them. A discharge from a labourer then is a serious endeavor.

[@TheSaltydog07]

The life of that family is not much different from the life of that horse, thus the tedium.

[@oliverbalogh8234]

The movie has a much simpler connection to Nietzsche than your explanation. The neighbours monologue is the key. It is a summary of what Nietzsche wrights about in many of his books, notably in "On the Genealogy of Morality". He heavily criticized our 2000 year old christian civilization and its morality and thought ultimately its flawed morality will lead to its demise. These views are what essentially made him upset to a level he stopped talking for the rest of his life. The sight of the beaten horse was only a trigger to insanity. The movie uses the horse, and the cabbie to symbolize Nietzsche' thoughts expressed in his books. According to the bible it took god 6 days to create earth. The movie symbolizes our civilizations existence and demise, condensed into 6 days. The constant wind symbolises the passing time. Just like the rain and paper waste blown by wind in Belas other movies too.

[@jackson_polack]

One of the dumbest interpretation of film i can imagine, only american could thnk those people don't do anything because they don't want to... Nietzsche it's determinism also my misinterpreting masterpieces friend. And no, eternal return wasn't motivation idea... xd

[@jip2119]

Can you explain yourself? Not getting the last three lines you wrote. By the way, he said they don't do anything bc they don't have the capacity of, not bc they don't want to.

[@godisonegodhaswon5957]

"After seeing a horse being whipped in the streets of Turin, Italy, Nietzsche had a mental breakdown that put him in an asylum for the rest of his life. Nietzsche is reported to have run over to the horse and held it in his arm to protect it before he collapsed to the ground. The scene was also the subject a movie by Bela Tarr (whom Jacques Ranciere wrote a bookabout) called The Turin Horse. According to Botton, after the horse incident Nietzsche “returned to his boarding house, danced naked” and thought of shooting the Kaiser. Botton continues to explain that Nietzsche began to believe himself to be Jesus, Napoleon, Buddha and other historical figures. Nietzsche’s family threw him into asylum where he died 11 years later at the age of 56." From the author of, "The Antichrist", to believing he was Christ, that is the destiny of the father of nihilism at the end.

[@opupfg]

This is one of the worst movie ever made, I wouldn't even call a movie, it's just a con job.

[@opupfg]

@Daniel Meikle It is exactly for casuals who think they know "art"

[@opupfg]

@Daniel Meikle sure 🙂