György Eszter, a major character in the film, delivers a monologue asserting that Werckmeister's harmonic principles are responsible for aesthetic and philosophical problems in all subsequent music, and should be replaced by a new theory of tuning and harmony.

[5] In an unnamed, desolate and isolated small town in Hungary[N 1] during a winter season in recent times,[N 2] János Valuska, a young newspaper-delivery man, conducts a performance with drunken bar patrons about the total eclipse of the sun, which disturbs, then silences the animals.

György's struggling cobbler brother, Uncle Lajos, takes the list and passes it on to the agitated crowd in the town square who are unhappy with the failing public services.

János overhears the circus master losing control of his faceless Prince, who speaks (in Slovakian[6]) through a translator of revolutions and ruins.

The Prince, now free, inflames the mob who holding clubs, march, then run into a hospital,[N 3] drag inmates out of their beds and beat them.

When the rioters finally find a helpless old naked patient, who is all skin and bones, they see in him their impotent, sad and powerless selves and withdraw silently.

György also mentions that he has re-tuned the piano so that is now like any other, a personal capitulation apparently abandoning any present hopes of reform.

In a 2024 interview, cinematographer Rob Tregenza discussed the film's production, including Tarr's dishonesty about financing: "He basically lied to everybody.

Claiming credit for innovating the film's opening scene and hospital sequence, Tregenza stated, "Concerning technology: I think Tarr is probably the most willful, stubborn, and ignorant of all directors I’ve ever worked with."

On Metacritic, the film received a weighted average score of 92/100 (based on eight reviews), which translates to "universal acclaim".

"[12] David Sterritt, writing for the Christian Science Monitor, awarded it a full four stars, remarking, "Tarr wants to stir the imagination and awaken the conscience of his audience rather than divert us with easy entertainment.

[14] Film critic Roger Ebert described the movie as "unique and original", writing that it "feels as much like cinéma vérité as the works of Frederick Wiseman."

Film at Lincoln Center (FLC) announced a new 4K restoration of Werckmeister Harmonies, opening 26 May 2023, in the Walter Reade Theater.