Goltzius & the Pelican Company

Goltzius & the Pelican Company

NR 2012 · 128 min · ★ 6.1 · Comedy, History

Goltzius and the Pelican Company tells the story of Hendrik Goltzius, a late 16th century Dutch printer and engraver of erotic prints. A contemporary of Rembrandt and, indeed, more celebrated during his life, Goltzius seduces the Margrave of Alsace into paying for a printing press to make and publish illustrated books. In return, he promises him an extraordinary book of pictures of illustrating the Old Testament’s biblical stories. Erotic tales of Lot and his daughters, David and Bathsheba, Samson and Deliah and John the Baptist and Salome. To tempt the Margrave further, Goltzius and his printing company will offer to perform dramatisations of these erotic stories for his court.

Directed by Peter Greenaway · Written by Peter Greenaway

Your Rating

Where to Watch

Rent or Buy

Cast

F. Murray Abraham The Margrave
Ramsey Nasr Hendrick Goltzius
Kate Moran Adaela
Pippo Delbono Samuel van Gouda
Giulio Berruti Thomas Boethius
Lars Eidinger Amos Quadfrey
Anne Louise Hassing Susannah
Flavio Parenti Eduard
Vincent Riotta Ricardo del Monte
Francesco De Vito Rabbi Moab
Maaike Neuville Isadora
Lisette Malidor Ebola

Make it a double feature

3h 38m together

Goltzius & the Pelican Company

Tintoretto: A Rebel in Venice

Both from Peter Greenaway.

More from Peter GreenawaySee all →

Tintoretto: A Rebel in Venice

Tintoretto: A Rebel in Venice · 2019

Tintoretto: A Rebel in Venice

MovieDocumentary

Five hundred years after his birth, the life and career of the Italian Renaissance's last great painter is explored.

Rosa

MovieMusicFantasy

A short film based on the work of choreographer Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker.

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover · 1989

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover

MovieCrimeDrama

When churlish mobster Albert Spica acquires an upscale French restaurant in London, he dines there nightly, effectively scaring off the clientele with his bad manners. His wife, Georgina, is especially disgusted by him, and soon begins an affair with regular guest Michael. Despite their best efforts to keep it secret, Spica learns about their trysts, and he plots a terrible revenge.

The Draughtsman's Contract

The Draughtsman's Contract · 1982

The Draughtsman's Contract

MovieHistoryMystery

R. Neville, a brash young draftsman, is hired to make a dozen landscape illustrations at the estate of Mr Herbert and his wife Virginia. Aside from monetary compensation, the arrangement includes a sexual liaison offered to Neville by Virginia while her estranged husband is away. But when the murdered body of Mr Herbert is discovered at the estate, mysterious clues found in Neville's drawings point to the identity of the killer.

Drowning by Numbers

Drowning by Numbers · 1988

Drowning by Numbers

MovieComedyCrime

Cissie Colpitts drowns her cheating husband and, in the ensuing cover-up, enlists the help of lonely coroner Henry Madgett, an old friend with a longstanding weakness for her charms. But when Cissie's daughter and granddaughter—both also named Cissie Colpitts—decide to resort to the same methods for solving conflicts with their own frustrating husbands, the women and their repeated appeals for help begin to wear on Madgett's conscience.

A Zed & Two Noughts

A Zed & Two Noughts · 1985

A Zed & Two Noughts

MovieComedyDrama

Identical twin zoologists lose their wives in a car crash caused by a white swan. They become obsessed with the death and decay of animals, and develop a strange and unusual relationship with the driver of the car, a woman who is now an amputee.

Blondi

MovieComedyHistory

Can a dog still be man’s best friend if that man is the Führer? Blondi explores the bizarre bond between Hitler and his beloved German Shepherd. From eating the crumbs under the table at the Führer’s birthday, to living in the confinement of the bunker, this film presents intimate glimpses of the dog’s daily life intertwined with the realities of war, depicting the oblivious pet's surreal impact on the Reich.

A TV Dante

A TV Dante · 1990

A TV Dante is an experimental mini-series directed by Tom Phillips and legendary filmmaker Peter Greenaway. It covers eight of the thirty-four cantos in Dante Alighieri's Inferno, part of his 14th century epic poem The Divine Comedy. The eight cantos of the film are not conventionally dramatised, rather they are illuminated with layered and juxtaposed imagery while the text is read entirely in "talking head" fashion, and punctuated with a kaleidoscopic blend of both newly shot and archival footage.

The Belly of an Architect

The Belly of an Architect · 1987

The Belly of an Architect

Stourley Kracklite, a driven, detail-obsessed architect, travels from America to Rome with his much younger wife, Louisa, to oversee an architectural homage to a personal hero, 18th-century master builder Etienne-Louis Boullée. En route by train, Stourley and Louisa conceive a much-wanted child — but Stourley's obsession with his wife's expanding belly, her perceived infidelity, and his own recurrent bouts of abdominal pain reach epic and dangerous proportions.

Prospero's Books

Prospero's Books · 1991

Prospero's Books

MovieDramaFantasy

An exiled magician finds an opportunity for revenge against his enemies muted when his daughter and the son of his chief enemy fall in love in this uniquely structured retelling of the 'The Tempest'.

The Baby of Mâcon

The Baby of Mâcon · 1993

The Baby of Mâcon

MovieDramaHistory

In 17th-century Tuscany, a church play is performed for the benefit of young aristocrat Cosimo. In the play, a grotesque old woman gives birth to a beautiful baby boy. The child's older sister is quick to exploit the situation, selling blessings from the baby, and even claiming she's the true mother by virgin birth. However, when she attempts to seduce the bishop's son, the Church exacts a terrible revenge.

Rembrandt's J'Accuse...!

Rembrandt's J'Accuse...! · 2008

Rembrandt's J'Accuse...!

MovieDocumentaryMystery

J'accuse is an 'essay-istic' documentary in which Greenaway's fierce criticism of today's visual illiteracy is argued by means of a forensic search of Rembrandt's Nightwatch. Greenaway explains the background, the context, the conspiracy, the murder and the motives of all its 34 painted characters who have conspired to kill for their combined self-advantage. Greenaway leads us through Rembrandt's paintings into 17th century Amsterdam. He paints a world that is democratic in principle, but is almost entirely ruled by twelve families. The notion exists of these regents as charitable and compassionate beings. However, reality was different.

Lumière & Company

Lumière & Company · 1995

Lumière & Company

MovieDramaDocumentary

40 international directors were asked to make a short film using the original Cinematographe invented by the Lumière Brothers, working under conditions similar to those of 1895. There were three rules: (1) The film could be no longer than 52 seconds, (2) no synchronized sound was permitted, and (3) no more than three takes.

The Pillow Book

The Pillow Book · 1995

The Pillow Book

MovieDramaRomance

Nagito has a fetish for calligraphy on the human body and meets her ideal soulmate Jerome, an English translator sent to Japan. However, once Nagiko's father's gay publisher rejoins the scene, the story is overtaken by treachery and bloodlust.

Nightwatching

Nightwatching · 2007

MovieDramaHistory

An extravagant, exotic and moving look at Rembrandt's romantic and professional life, and the controversy he created by the identification of a murderer in the painting The Night Watch.

Eisenstein in Guanajuato

Eisenstein in Guanajuato · 2015

Eisenstein in Guanajuato

MovieComedyRomance

In 1931, following the success of the film Battleship Potemkin, Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein travels to the city of Guanajuato, Mexico, to shoot a new film. Freshly rejected by Hollywood, Eisenstein soon falls under Mexico’s spell. Chaperoned by his guide Palomino Cañedo, the director opens up to his suppressed fears as he embraces a new world of sensual pleasures and possibilities that will shape the future of his art.

More Like This

The Last Emperor

The Last Emperor · 1987

The Last Emperor

MovieDramaHistory

A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.

Gandhi

MovieDramaHistory

In the early years of the 20th century, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of 'passive resistance', endeavouring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed.

The Elephant Man

The Elephant Man · 1980

The Elephant Man

MovieDramaHistory

A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man being mistreated by his "owner" as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of great intelligence and sensitivity.

Malcolm X

Malcolm X · 1992

MovieDramaHistory

A tribute to the controversial black activist and leader of the struggle for black liberation. He hit bottom during his imprisonment in the '50s, he became a Black Muslim and then a leader in the Nation of Islam. His assassination in 1965 left a legacy of self-determination and racial pride.

Man on the Moon

Man on the Moon · 1999

Man on the Moon

MovieComedyDrama

The story of the life and career of eccentric avant-garde comedian, Andy Kaufman.

Water Drops on Burning Rocks

Water Drops on Burning Rocks · 2000

Water Drops on Burning Rocks

MovieDramaRomance

In 1970s Germany, Léopold, a 50-year-old businessman, picks up and seduces 20-year-old Franz, who swiftly moves into his apartment. The dynamic between them intensifies with the sudden arrival of their ex-girlfriends.

Pollock

Pollock · 2000

MovieDramaHistory

In August of 1949, Life Magazine ran a banner headline that begged the question: "Jackson Pollock: Is he the greatest living painter in the United States?" The film is a look back into the life of an extraordinary man, a man who has fittingly been called "an artist dedicated to concealment, a celebrity who nobody knew." As he struggled with self-doubt, engaging in a lonely tug-of-war between needing to express himself and wanting to shut the world out, Pollock began a downward spiral.

Factory Girl

Factory Girl · 2006

MovieDramaHistory

In the mid-1960s, wealthy debutant Edie Sedgwick meets artist Andy Warhol. She joins Warhol's famous Factory and becomes his muse. Although she seems to have it all, Edie cannot have the love she craves from Andy, and she has an affair with a charismatic musician, who pushes her to seek independence from the artist and the milieu.

Maria

MovieHistoryDrama

Maria Callas, the world's greatest opera singer, lives the last days of her life in 1970s Paris, as she confronts her identity and life.

Girls on Top

Girls on Top · 2001

The adventures of three teenage girls - Inken, Vicky and Lena - and their quest to have their first orgasm.

Private Parts

Private Parts · 1997

MovieComedyDrama

The life and career of shock-jock superstar Howard Stern is recounted from his humble beginnings to his view from the top. Possessing a desire to be an on-air personality since childhood, Stern meanders through the radio world, always with his supportive wife, Alison, by his side. Landing a gig in Washington, D.C., Stern meets Robin Quivers, who will become his long-time partner in crime. When the two move to New York, they face the wrath of NBC executives.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter