A dramatization, in modern theatrical style, of the life and thought of the Viennese-born, Cambridge-educated philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, whose principal interest was the nature and limits of language. A series of sketches depict the unfolding of his life from boyhood, through the era of the first World War, to his eventual Cambridge professorship and association with Bertrand Russell and John Maynard Keynes. The emphasis in these sketches is on the exposition of the ideas of Wittgenstein, a homosexual, and an intuitive, moody, proud, and perfectionistic thinker generally regarded as a genius.
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Clancy Chassay
Young Wittgenstein
Karl Johnson
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Michael Gough
Betrand Russell
Tilda Swinton
Lady Ottoline Morrell
Kevin Collins
Johnny
Nabil Shaban
Martian
Sally Dexter
Hermine Wittgenstein
Lynn Seymour
Lydia Lopokova
Jill Balcon
Leopoldine Wittgenstein
Gina Marsh
Gretyl Wittgenstein
Director
Derek Jarman
Tagline
"If people never did silly things nothing intelligent would ever get done."
Status
Released
Original Language
EN
Production
BFI, Bandung Productions, Film4 Productions
CinemaSerf
January 5, 2026
Told by way of some theatrical style sketches, this quite engagingly depicts not only the life of the acclaimed philosopher but it also shines an entertaining light on just what “philosophy” actually might be. I say might be because what is clear between himself (latterly Karl Johnson), Bertrand Russell (Michael Gough) and John Maynard Keynes (John Quentin) is that nothing is definite. His thrust ...
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