Taxandria

"Discover the masterpiece of Raoul Servais"

Feb 21 1996 N/A 1h 22m
Adventure, Animation, Fantasy

A lighthouse guardian leads a young prince towards an imaginary world, Taxandria, where the boy learns about the power of love and the value of liberty. A totalitarian regime has forbidden time: time watches have been confiscated, photo cameras are illegal as they freeze a point in time. A typical Servais theme: a power is oppressed by a constraint that denies what is best in the individual, and therefore has to be twisted in various ways, to establish an entirely artificial world, that has rules that may question some of the rules of our world at this side of the mirror.

Plot

A young prince is taken for tuition at a seaside hotel but there quickly bores and wanders off to visit a nearby lighthouse. Befriended by the keeper, he learns of a secret world he can see inside the light of the lamp - the world of Taxandria ruled by the dictatorship of the 'eternal present' where all machines, progress and time have been banned. However, a naive but creative printing clerk unwittingly causes a revolution when he upsets a printing press and tries to replace the spilled letters only to have his new words taken for a subversive code. On the run he falls in love with a palace princess, discovers the forbidden art of photography and sets out to fulfill his dream of building a flying machine.

Written by

Frank Daniel, Raoul Servais, Alain Robbe-Grillet

Directed by

Raoul Servais

Cast

Armin Mueller-Stahl, Elliott Spiers, Katja Studt

Crew

View crew

Production Countries

Netherlands, France, Belgium, Germany

Production Companies

Belgische Radio en Televisie, FilmNet, RTBF, HR, Nederlandse Omroepstichting (NOS), Canal+, Club d'Investissement Média, Iblis Films, Les Productions Dussart, Praxino Pictures, Mafilm, Eurimages, Bibo Films

Languages

English

Awards

4 wins & 3 nominations

Scores
# of Votes
485
Average Rating
6.4 out of 10
Metascore
NA
Popularity
NA