We got a clip from Werner Herzog’s long awaited Queen of the Desert just before it premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in February, but now it's finally time to catch the first trailer. Nicole Kidman leads as Gertrude Bell, the historian, novelist and British spy who was key to setting the course for the new political order in the Middle East around 1920. The film didn't get the best reception at Berlin and words that got thrown around a bit include "passionless" and "uninspiring." There's no judging the movie based on the trailer alone, but these words certainly do apply here as well. I was expecting a tease of a rousing, heroic epic, but this promo is a bit flat and dull for my taste.
Atlas Distribution Co. acquired the distribution rights to Queen of the Desert and plans to give the film a limited release in late September. You can check out the first Queen of the Desert trailer for yourself below, which also features Robert Pattinson and Damian Lewis.
Trailer via Beyazperde.
Here’s the official synopsis and images from the film via the Berlin International Film Festival website:
The film tells the story of Gertrude Bell (1868-1926) who, as historian, novelist and member of the British secret service, played a decisive role around 1920 in setting the course for the new political order in the Middle East. As an educated young woman, for whom no suitable husband can be found in England, she journeys to Tehran. After a tragic love affair with diplomat and inveterate gambler Henry Cadogan, she decides to give up on her private life and discover the region as an explorer. Before the backdrop of the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire she learns languages, translates literature, meets with Muslim dignitaries in Cairo, Basra and Baghdad and earns their trust through her pluck and respect. Predestined to be a mediator between the Orient and the British Empire, she contributes to defining the new borders in the region after the First World War. And then love enters her life once again.
Werner Herzog uses the vast desert landscapes to depict the architecture of his characters’ souls. A panoramic epic about the woman who has gone down in history as ‘the female Lawrence of Arabia’.
