Lamentations: A Monument for the Dead World (1985): cast, story & where to watch

Released in 1985, Lamentations: A Monument for the Dead World is a mystery film directed by R. Bruce Elder, running about 437 minutes.

What it’s about. Lamentations: A Monument to the Dead World belongs to a 35-hour film cycle, The Book of All the Dead, which comprises the bulk of Toronto-based Bruce Elder’s filmmaking from 1975 to 1994. In ancient Egyptian culture, the Book of the Dead consisted of religious texts intended to help preserve the spirit of the departed in the afterlife — but in Elder’s reading, that comforting idea of continuity takes on a rather darker cast. Lamentations is comprised of a complex audio and visual patchwork: a philosophical meditation superimposed as text throughout the film; vignettes featuring a comical but disturbing Franz Liszt, a debate between Isaac Newton and George Berkeley, an angry, deranged man in an alley, and an arrogant psychiatrist; and a final search for salvation in the forests of British Columbia, the American Southwest, and Mexico’s Yucatan.

Who’s in it. Lamentations: A Monument for the Dead World stars Robert Fothergill as Narrator (voice), Kristina Jones as Narrator (voice), David King as Isaac Newton and James D. Smith as Franz Liszt, among others.

How it landed. With an audience score of 7.2/10, Lamentations: A Monument for the Dead World has been warmly received by audiences.

Where to watch. Streaming options change often. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch Lamentations: A Monument for the Dead World page.

If you liked it. Fans of Lamentations: A Monument for the Dead World tend to enjoy Se7en, Psycho, Rear Window and Oldboy.