Renaldo and Clara is a surrealist movie, by and starring Bob Dylan. Filmed in 1975, during Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue tour, it was released in 1978. In its original form, it is nearly four hours long.

The movie was written by Dylan and stars him as Renaldo; his then-wife Sara Dylan appears as Clara, and his ex-lover Joan Baez plays "The Woman in White." Dylan hired Allen Ginsberg and Sam Shepard to create scenes for the film; how many of their contributions survive can only be guessed, but the writing credit in any event belongs to Dylan.

The famous French film Les Enfants du Paradis had a heavy influence on the style, structure and thematic elements of Renaldo and Clara. There are many similarities between these two films. They include Dylan in whiteface, the recurring flower, "The Woman in White", the on-stage and backstage scenes, and the dialogue of the both films' climactic scenes. Also evident is the Cubist approach of the two films, allowing us to see the main characters from the different perspectives of various lovers. Running time is also relatively similar.

Many of the artists performing with the Rolling Thunder Revue are featured in the movie, which also includes clips of concert performances and footage of Rubin Carter, the subject of Dylan's song "Hurricane".

The movie was generally poorly reviewed, often scathingly received, and its initial theatrical run was short. After opening in New York City and Los Angeles, the only other cities where the original form ran was reportedly Minneapolis and Kansas City.

Later in 1978, Dylan allowed a two-hour edit of the film to be distributed. The shortened version focused more on the concert footage and omitted many of the dramatic scenes. It had a longer, low-profile run in wider distribution, but was not seen as commercially successful.

After a small number of showings (perhaps only a single airing) of the original version on European television, Dylan withdrew the film from distribution. Copies, made from recordings of the television broadcast, circulate among collectors, but the only parts of the movie to be released for consumers are the excerpts found on the "bonus" DVD accompanying the initial release of Dylan's Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue.

External link

• A scene-by-scene synopsis

Bob Dylan | 1978 films | Films over three hours long