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Philosophers on film: A list in progress

by Dr. Andreas Vrahimis


2013
(Update August 2014)

There are already various lists online that feature films that explore philosophical themes.
This list only features films that are explicitly connected to philosophy either by featuring
philosophers, or by being based on works by philosophers.
It is a work in progress, and will be updated from time to time.

Biopics about philosophers:

Agora (2009) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1186830/) (about Hypatia)

Rosellini s series of biopics:

Socrate (1971) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0210296/)


Augustine of Hippo (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072617/)
Cartesius (1974) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0161382/)
Blaise Pascal (1972) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066839/)

Giordano Bruno (1972) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070109/)


Confucius (2010) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1397498/)
Al-Ghazali: The alchemist of happiness (2004) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0439430/)
Les derniers jours d'Emmanuel Kant (1994) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109601/)
Beyond Good and Evil (1977) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075652/)
Wittgenstein (1993) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108583/)
Les amants du Flor (2006) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0778611/) (about Sartre and
Beauvoir)
Iris (2001) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0280778/)
Hannah Arendt (2012) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1674773/)
Bertrand Russell makes his appearance in Tom and Viv (1994))
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111454/) (biopic about T.S. Eliot and Vivienne Haigh-
Wood)

Various films and documentaries

The examined life (2008) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1279083/)


Waking life (2001) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0243017/) with an appearance by
Robert Solomon
Sofies Verden [Sofie s World] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0125507/)
Human, all too Human (BBC series on Nietzsche, Heidegger and Sartre).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human,_All_Too_Human_%28TV_series%29)
When Nietzsche Wept (2007) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0760188/)
Nietzsche and the Nazis (2006) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2215351/)
Days of Nietzsche in Turin (2001) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0297856/)
Le journal du séducteur (1996) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113489/)
Marx reloaded (2011) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1884351/)

Interviews with philosophers (filmed during the 20th century):

Bryan Magee s interviews with some important twentieth-century Anglophone


philosophers in the 1970s for the BBC http://www.youtube.com/user/flame0430

Logic Lane (a series of interviews with Oxford philosophers from 1972, directed by Michael
Chanan):

You might just as well say 'I see what I eat' is the same thing as 'I eat what I see' (Ryle
and Urmson): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XRwygBUd2Y
The Idea of Freedom (Pears and Murdoch): http://youtu.be/zJHIwnr3UlI
Appearance and Reality (Williams and Ayer):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbCrEA2nCqw
Language and Creativity (Strawson and Evans): http://youtu.be/u_vGj9BuY18
"I'm Going To Tamper With Your Beliefs A Little" (Hampshire and Berlin):
http://youtu.be/PhrEYmVfm9Y
Logic Lane: A Philosophical Retrospective: http://youtu.be/kA-rc3G2Kig

Justice vs. Power (1971) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myy3vL-QKI4)


L'abécédaire de Gilles Deleuze (1996) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0408472/)
Στα τ α της σ ψης (http://www.ert-archives.gr/V3/public/main/d--index-
archive-tv-programs.aspx#results) (Greek national television interviews 20th century
intellectuals including Danto, Spivak, Said, Cixous, Baudrillard, Kristeva, Sollers, Bourdieu,
Vattimo, Guattari)
Cornelius Castoriadis (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFVqht3mlhI)

Films relevant to particular thinkers

- Heidegger:

The Ister (2004) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0397477/)


Only a God can save us (2009) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1479743/)
Im denkens unterwegs (1975) (in German)
Interview: Martin Heidegger and Thai Monk Bhikku Maha Mani
http://youtu.be/L8HR4RXxZw8
Being in the world (2010) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1515195/)

- Derrida:

Derrida (2002) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0303326/)


D'ailleurs Derrida (1999) (French)
Ta monopatia tis skepsis (1999) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1427179/)
Ghost Dance (1983) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085589/) (Derrida makes his
appearance here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nmu3uwqzbI ,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG_JA6SJD8k)

- Zizek:

The Pervert's Guide to Cinema (2006) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0828154/)


Zizek! (2005) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478338/)
Slavoj Zizek: The Reality of the Virtual (2004) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0419142/)
Love Without Mercy: Slavoj Zizek (2003) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0469790/)
The Pervert s Guide to )deology http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2152198/)
[More appearances by Zizek http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1670978/.]

- J.L. Nancy:

Ten Minutes Older: The Cello (2002), (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318742/)


The Intruder (2004), (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0422491/) based on a novel written
by Nancy

- Sartre

Filmography: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0765683/

- Camus

Filmography: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0133411/

Update, August 15 2014

Spinoza, The Apostle of Reason (1994) http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b7d94bc06 [A play


about Spinoza s life by Tariq Ali]
Aristotle s Lagoon http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1505796/ [BBC Documentary
about Aristotle s biology and its relation to the island of Lesvos]
The Cave: An Adaptation of Plato s Allegory in Clay
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1338565/
Plato's Allegory of the Cave (1973) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv9a1SZgdJQ
Sir Isaiah Berlin interviewed about his life by Michael Ignatieff (1997)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDAGngAc9_M
Debate Noam Chomsky & Michel Foucault - On human nature (1971)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wfNl2L0Gf8&feature=youtu.be
Ta monopatia tis skepsis: Jacques Derrida (1999)
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1427179/)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUfxWnQdM4U
Ta monopatia tis skepsis: Kostas Axelos (1993) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPXhIkefivc
Interview with Cornelius Castoriadis, conducted by Chris Marker for the TV Series L (eritage de la
chouette (1989) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096615/)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HL22xsVK4c 1
Cornelius Castoriadis - Interview on Autonomy and Democracy [On ERT, Πα ασ ] (1984)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs9ZsKj-o1k
Benjamin in Konya (2010) http://www.rajkowska.com/en/filmy/92
Walter Benjamin: Piet Mondrian 63–69 (2013?) http://vimeo.com/61669696
Interview with Rudolf Carnap on German TV (1964)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhx02mtYskk

1
Many thanks to Evangelos Kapros (@ekapros on twitter) for pointing out the existence of a number of videos
about Castoriadis on youtube.

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