Prospero's Books
“A magician's spell, the innocence of young love and a dream of revenge unite to create a tempest.”
Peter GreenawayCast
John Gielgud Michael Clark Isabelle Pasco
Credits
Written by: 
William Shakespeare
Plot
A reimagining of Shakespeare's The Tempest through the books in Prospero's library, with John Gielgud in the lead.
Sinekatalog’s take
Peter Greenaway's dense reimagining of The Tempest unfolds through Prospero's books, with John Gielgud as the sorcerer. Lavish, nude-filled and digital, it is a visually overwhelming, intellectual and bizarre experiment.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.
Ratings
IMDb: 6.8 / 10 (7,127 votes)
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset (October 2026). Scores change over time.
If you liked this
Picked by director, genre, era and shared cast. Titles only, no spoilers.
- The Tempest 1979 · Derek Jarman · IMDb 6.3 · Same movement
- The Last of England 1987 · Derek Jarman · IMDb 6.4 · Same movement
- The Exterminating Angel 1962 · Luis Buñuel · IMDb 7.9 · Similar genres
- Under the Sun of Satan 1987 · Maurice Pialat · IMDb 6.7 · Same movement
- Dreams (1990) 1990 · Akira Kurosawa · IMDb 7.7 · Similar genres
- The Belly of an Architect 1987 · Peter Greenaway · IMDb 6.9 · Same director