FREAK ORLANDO is divided into five more-or-less distinct sections, all featuring "Freak" Orlando, a woman, played by the late Magdalena Montezuma, who appears in various guises, and deformities, throughout.
Magdalena Montezuma
as Orlando, als Pilger, Orlando Zyldopa, Orlando Orlanda, Orlando Capricho, Mr. Orlando, The Entertainer Mrs. Orlando
Delphine Seyrig
as Helena Müller, als Lebensbaumgöttin, Kaufhausonsängerin, Mutter der Wundergeburt, Helena-Maya, Siamese sister Lena, Bunny Helena
Hiro Uchiyama
as Zwei Tänzer, Department Store Detectives, Acrobats, Moines, Cerbere, Human-birds, Nurses
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Reviews
"Freak Orlando" is a West German 2-hour movie from 1981, so this one had its 35th anniversary last year and this is among the earlier, but not earliest, career efforts by writer and director Ulrike Ottinger, also among her most known works probably. I would call it a piece of style over substance though. It is certainly a director's film and the style is clearly visible. However, it is also a case of style over substance. At the end, nothing stayed really memorable here except the colors, makeup and costumes perhaps, but nothing in terms of plot or performances, even if I would not really blame any of the actors and actresses as the material they had to work with here did not offer any possibility for a great achievement range-wise. The cast includes a semi-famous name here and there like Montezuma or Constantine, but no big stars either or any of the most known from Germany at that point. The story includes many somewhat epic moments, but the execution just wasn't on par to make these really seem epic to audiences as well. What stayed in the end was a film way too long for its own good and a pretty surreal film that suffered from all kinds of low production values. I am not sure if I have seen anything else by Ottinger before (probably!) but if I did then it was apparently as forgettable as this one here and I am not curious in the slightest to take a deeper look into her fairly prolific body of work. Watch something else instead.
"Freak Orlando" by German documentary maker Ulrike Ottinger is easily one of the most surreal movies I have ever seen.I can compare this relentless orgy of surrealism to the cinema of Alejandro Jodorovsky and John Waters.The film obviously lacks cohesive story-line.It's a series of bizarre vignettes which take place in eccentric worlds filled with freaks and Siamese twins.There is plenty of eccentric humor in "Freak Orlando" and lots of weird theatrics.The central character of Orlando is played by Magdalena Montezuma,but there is also Delphine Seyring in the cast whom I remember from wonderfully stylish lesbian vampire flick "Daughters of Darkness"(1971).Overall,"Freak Orlando" is a must-see for the lovers of bizarro cinema.5 Siamese twins out of 10.Not for the easily bored like I am.
