As part of my extensive coverage of Bach (roundup here), two fictional films from the 60s, despite their extreme contrast, are linked both by their intensity and by the way they don’t just accept but probe our own modern values:

• Pasolini’sThe gospel according to St Matthew (1964) (featuring Bach among a range of music)—filmed in south Italy, largely with amateur actors:

and

• The chronicle of Anna Magdelena Bach (Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet, 1968—with  Gustav Leonhardt as Bach!):

(These links come and go. I’ll try and keep an eye on them, but you can do your own YouTube searches if they disappear. For the latter film I found a version enriched by Japanese subtitles, like the Greek subtitles of Johnny the shoeshine guy…)