Il Mefistofele
“Ken Russell's modern interpretation of Arrigo Boito's Il Mefestefele”
1989•2h 17m•6.0•Released
MusicTV Movie
Arrigo Boito's most known work is Il Mefestefele, first performed in 1868. Russell's modern interpretation presented by the Genoese Opera has Faust as an ageing hippy, who smokes marijuana and is tormented by his lost youth. Mephisto bets God that he can turn anyone to pagan life, even someone as innocent as Faust. It becomes a battle of good against evil in a flamboyant, surreal display of primary colours, PVC costumes, nurses with swastikas, rocket trips, love and even characters dressed as Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse.
Director
Ken Russell
Writer
Arrigo Boito
Languages
Italian
Cast
Paata Burchuladze
Ottavio Garaventa
Adriana Morelli
Recommended
6.9
Star!
1968
6.8
Battle of the Year
2013
6.3
Cheaters
2000
5.9
The Hunchback
1997
7.3
iParty with Victorious
2011
5.9
Sneakerella
2022
6.7
Godspell
1973
7
Let It Shine
2012
6.3
My Dinner with Hervé
2018
6.3
TalhotBlond
2012
7.7
Adele One Night Only
2021
5.8
Make Mine Music
1946
6.7
Normal
2003
6.7
Holiday Harmony
2022
6.9
Broadway Melody of 1940
1940
6.5
The Pirate
1948
6.5
Lovestruck: The Musical
2013
6.3
The Big Store
1941
6.8
Song for Marion
2012
6.7
One Chance
2013
Similar Movies
Idomeneo, König von Kreta - Mozart bei den Opernfestspielen Aix-en-Provence
2022
8
Amadeus
1984
Strauss R: Salome
2011
Theodora
2023
Der Schatzgräber
2023
Berg: Wozzeck
2018
Alban Berg - Wozzeck
2016
4
Parsifal
2015
Pagliacci
1948
Poulenc's The Human Voice / Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle
2018
7.1
The Phantom of the Opera
1925
Chelsea Zurflüh & Jonathan Tetelman @ Château de Neuschwanstein 2025
2025
Don Giovanni
2013
The Human Voice
2022
5
"L'Opera Seria" @ Teatro alla Scala Milan
2025
Die Entführung aus dem Paradies
2009
6
The Metropolitan Opera: Norma
2017
7.7
The Metropolitan Opera: The Exterminating Angel
2017
7
The Metropolitan Opera: Tosca
2018
Giulio Cesare in Egitto
2012