Mephisto
Directed by István Szabó
Written by Péter Dobai and István Szabó from a novel by Klaus Mann
1981/Hungary/West Germany/Austria
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube renta
Hendrik Hoefgen: What do they want from me now? After all, I am just an actor.
This is an excellent movie and Kaus Maria Brandauer’s performance makes it an amazing one.
It is Germany in 1932. Hendrik Hoefgen (Brandauer) is egotistical, flamboyant, and erratic. But he is an absolutely mesmerizing stage actor. One of his great roles is as Mephistopheles in Goethe’s Faust. He wins the love of a society beauty and is having a heated sexual affair with a Black woman. He is soon on the road to Berlin to find fame and fortune on the national level.
Hoefgen is also apolitical and amoral. All he really cares about is himself and his career. So he is easily seduced by a high ranking Nazi official. This brings him the fame he seeks and paves the way to his moral bankruptcy as he tries to please his masters.
I can’t really explain how good Brandauer is in this movie. It is something you will want to see for yourself. There are many scenes of his acting on the stage that are pretty astonishing. All the other aspects of the film are first rate. Highly recommended.
Mephisto won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language film.
Lackluster trailer and none of the clips have subtitles.
