2024-10-01 10:05
Library and Information Centre: Wednesday, 02 October, 6:00 pm
Mephisto
1981, Hungary-West Germany-Austria, 154 min
Language: Hungarian and German
Subtitles: English
Directed by: István Szabó
Written by: Klaus Mann (novel)
Screenplay by: István Szabó, Péter Dobai
Director of photography: Lajos Koltai
Music by: Zdenkó Tamássy
Cast: Klaus Maria Brandauer, Ildikó Bánsági, Krystyna Janda, Rolf Hoppe, György Cserhalmi, Péter Andorai
This Oscar winner film based on the novel of the same title by Klaus Mann seeks an answer to the eternal Faustian question: how are personalities shaped by the pressure of history in Central Europe. The career of Hendrik Höfgen, the hugely talented albeit ingratiating actor, is flying high in Germany of the 1930s... Mephisto, played with unequalled talent by Klaus Maria Brandauer, was followed by a further two films nominated for Oscars: Redl ezredes (Colonel Redl, 1984) and Hanussen (1988). In these figures, eternally failing actors, soldiers, prophets, Szabó formulated from a European perspective why, when and what sort of characters totalitarian systems are in need of to achieve their objectives.