The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 1: The Moab Story (2003)

Director:

Peter Greenaway

Writer:

Peter Greenaway (writer)

Release Date:

18 July 2003 (Spain)

Genre:

Adventure | Biography | Drama | Romance | Thriller | War

Plot:

The first of three parts, we follow Tulse Luper in three distinct episodes: as a child during the first World War...

Plot Keywords:

Utah | Suitcase | Mormon | Flashback | English

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

JJ Feild	...	Tulse Luper / Floris Creps
Caroline Dhavernas	...	Passion Hockmeister
Jordi Mollà	...	Jan Palmerion
Steven Mackintosh	...	Gunther Zeloty
Raymond J. Barry	...	Stephen Figura
Scot Williams	...	Percy Hockmeister
Drew Mulligan	...	Martino Knockavelli
Yorick van Wageningen	...	Julian Lephrenic
Jack Wouterse	...	Erik van Hoyten
Naím Thomas	...	Hercule
Nilo Mur	...	Pip
Valentina Cervi	...	Cissie Colpitts
Tom Bower	...	Tom Fender
Michèle Bernier	...	Sophie van Osterhuis
Barbara Tarbuck	...	Ma Fender

Also Known As:

Las maletas de Tulse Luper: La historia de Moab (Spain)
Le valigie di Tulse Luper - La storia di Moab (Italy)
As Maletas de Tulse Luper - Parte I: A História de Moab (Brazil) [pt]
The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 1: The Moab Story (Greece) (festival title) [el]

Runtime:

France:127 min (Cannes Film Festival)

Country:

UK | Spain | Italy | Luxembourg | Netherlands | Russia | Hungary | Germany

Language:

English | German | Dutch | French | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Netherlands:16 | Spain:18

Filming Locations:

Almería, Andalucía, Spain

Company:

ABS Production

Trivia:

'Cissie Colpitts' is the name shared by the three main female characters in Drowning by Numbers (1988), by the same director.

Movie Connections:

References Vertical Features Remake (1978)

Let the games begin...

The Moab Story is part 1 of a 3 part, 6 hour film tracing the life of the eponymous Tulse Luper and, for reasons not yet clear, the history of Uranium (atomic number 92 - this is important so pay attention at the back).

Greenaway continues to evolve his directorial style, overlapping images and sounds, embedding windows within windows, mixing media. The results are often confusing, sometimes stunning, never boring.

I wondered if Greenaway was hinting that this was in some sense an autobiographical piece. Tulse Luper is cited as the author of 'The Belly of an Architect' and in a list of his lost works appears 'The Falls', both earlier films by Greenaway.

Of course it might just be the director playing games. A clip from 'A Zed and Two Noughts' is used at one point, and there is a character named 'Cissie Colpits', the name of the three women in 'Drowning by Numbers'. I suspect there might well have been many more references to earlier films in there.

This is closer in style to 'Properos Books' or 'A TV Dante' than some of his earlier works such as 'The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover'. Narrative flow has been sacrificed in part for creating a cinematic work of art. Nothing wrong with that in my opinion though, when the result is a film like this. Sit back and let the experience wash over you.