Kinski Paganini is a 1989 film based on the life and career of composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 and virtuoso

Virtuoso

A virtuoso is an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability in the fine arts, at singing or playing a musical instrument. The plural form is either virtuosi or the Anglicisation, virtuosos, and the feminine form sometimes used is virtuosa...

 violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

ist Niccolò Paganini

Niccolò Paganini

Niccolò Paganini was an Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer. He was one of the most celebrated violin virtuosi of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique...

. The movie was written and directed by Klaus Kinski

Klaus Kinski

Klaus Kinski, born Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski , was a German actor. He appeared in more than 130 films, and is perhaps best-remembered as a leading role actor in Werner Herzog films: Aguirre, the Wrath of God , Nosferatu the Vampyre , Woyzeck , Fitzcarraldo and Cobra Verde .-Early...

, who also performs the lead role. It was to be Kinski's final film before his death in 1991.

The film also stars Kinski's young wife (Debora Kinski) and son (Nikolai Kinski

Nikolai Kinski

Nanhoï Nikolai Kinski is a film actor, and the only acknowledged son of the prolific actor Klaus Kinski and his third wife, Minhoi Geneviève Loanic. He is the half-brother of actresses Nastassja Kinski and Pola Kinski. Nikolai was born in France, but was raised in California, United States...

) alongside him. Klaus Kinski felt that he and Paganini had led similar lives, and both gave "demonic" performances in their own fields that often sparked great controversy.

In his 1999 documentary My Best Fiend

My Best Fiend

My Best Fiend is a 1999 documentary film by Werner Herzog about his tumultuous yet productive relationship with German actor Klaus Kinski. It was released on DVD in 2000 by Anchor Bay.-Summary:...

, frequent collaborator Werner Herzog

Werner Herzog

Werner Herzog Stipetić , known as Werner Herzog, is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and opera director.He is often considered as one of the greatest figures of the New German Cinema, along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Werner...

 says Kinski repeatedly asked him to direct the film, but he, Herzog, refused because he thought the script was "unfilmable". Herzog also states that the preparation for his role in Kinski Paganini caused the actor to take on an uncomfortable "alien" air that disrupted Kinski's performance in their last film together, Cobra Verde

Cobra Verde

Cobra Verde is a 1987 German drama film based upon Bruce Chatwin's 1980 novel, The Viceroy of Ouidah. The film depicts the life of a fictional slave trader named Francisco Manoel da Silva who is played by the prolific German actor Klaus Kinski...

.

Plot

The film is a biopic about the life of Niccolò Paganini, who many consider to be one of the greatest violinists who ever lived.

Release information

Since its theatrical run, the film has only been released on DVD

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 and VHS

VHS

The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....

 in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.