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France, Germany · 2013
2h 2m
Director Arnaud des Pallières
Starring Mads Mikkelsen, Mélusine Mayance, Delphine Chuillot, Bruno Ganz
Genre Drama, History
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In 16th-century France, a horse dealer by the name of Michael Kohlhaas leads a happy and prosperous family life. But when a lord treats him unjustly, this pious, upstanding man raises an army and puts the country to fire and sword in order to have his rights restored.
With strong performances, the gorgeously overwhelming environment (the sounds of wind and flies are practically supporting characters), and at least one agonizingly long close-up, Age of Uprising unsettles as it raises troubling questions about the price, morality and flexibility of a "principled stand."
Even Lavant's brief cameo as a roving theologist towards the finale can't spark the disappointingly bland Michael Kohlhaas into life - surely the most damning indictment of all.
This leaden relocating of an iconic German saga to 16th-century France isn’t helped by the miscast Mads Mikkelsen’s morose display as Michael Kohlhaas.
Time Out London by Geoff Andrew
Unfortunately, Arnaud de Pallieres’s film succeeds neither as a decent adaptation of the book nor as a rewarding movie in its own right.
Kleist’s direct language and straightforward storytelling are nowhere in evidence in Pallieres’ narratively challenged adaptation, featuring a French-speaking Mads Mikkelsen in one of his least impressive characterizations.
It’s handsome, stately and deathly dull.
The Hollywood Reporter by Jordan Mintzer
An old-fashioned, Robin Hood-style revenge tale that favors self-serious storytelling over action and suspense, Arnaud des Pallieres’ Michael Kohlhaas provides a few quick thrills and some beautifully photographed landscapes, but never really convinces as an intellectual’s swords-and-horses period piece.
Director Arnaud des Pallières lends a bleak austerity to the story, but with only one murky battle scene to quicken the blood it’s hardly a recipe for unbridled excitement.
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
Perhaps as a parable, simplicity is what is required, although sometimes the film does not rise to tragedy. Visually, Age of Uprising is classy and plausible, but delivers less than it promises.
The Telegraph by Robbie Collin
Age of Uprising falls awkwardly (but not altogether unappealingly) into the gap between art film and horse opera.
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