Mephisto
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Movie Reviews of Mephisto
Movie Review: Lessons in Power and Moral Corruption
Summary: 5 Stars
Klaus Mann's Mephisto (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics) is based loosely on the legend of Mephistopheles and Doctor Faustus. Only in Mann's version, the characters are members of his family. Enter Hendrik Hoefgen (or Klaus Mann's brother-in-law Gustaf Gründgens star of M - Criterion Collection) alias Faust/Mephisto played by Klaus Maria Brandauer.
Adapted by Hungarian director Istvan Szabo in this 1981 film rendition, Hendrik Hoefgen is a provincial actor from Hamburg who arrives in Berlin during the Nazi regime's ascendancy, determined to become the greatest thespian in Germany.
As his reputation grows, a Hermann Göring-type minister (Rolf Hoppe) takes notice of his performance as Mephisto. Over time, for the sake of adulation, fame and social position, he ingratiates himself to his newfound Nazi patron - a more menacing Mephisto -- and is offered all that he desires in the theatrical world.
The price? Surrender your Communist convictions, disassociate yourself from your Jewish friends and Afro-German mistress (Karin Boyd), divorce your wife (Mann's sister, Erika). In exchange, act as a puppet spokesman for the Third Reich. He complies and is appointed director of the Prussian theatre, admired as an actor in his role as Mephisto and respected in the Nazi government's social circle.
As Nazi control takes hold throughout Germany, Hendrik Hoefgen's colleagues escape to America, or into secret cells, preparing for resistance. His wife leaves. His friends beg him to join them. Although aware of the dangers, he remains behind, believing he can stage works unhindered by the Nazi government. Too late to realise the impracticality of his folly, he complies to survive, winning small victories that give the illusion of freedom.
The day of his reckoning comes in the last minutes of the film. The minister, unwilling to compromise and assist him any further, marches him to what appears to be a huge, dark void - a stage...perhaps hell. He is forced onto it. Spotlights bear down upon him. He runs frantically to and fro. Stops. Looks into the intensely bright light and pleads: "What do you want? I'm only an actor". Absolutely haunting!
Although Klaus Mann's novel more or less lampoons the complicity of his brother-in-law with the Nazis, the film explores a flawed and opportunistic, yet all too recognisably human character. One could draw parallels to what becomes of individuals and art when oppressive regimes impinge upon them. Some relent to it in order to survive; others who have a moral conscience flee to fight it.
Acting? Klaus Maria Brandauer's performance is so multi-layered, he captures the essence of the actor's psyche for invention and role playing. Equally mesmerising and sinister in his role is Rolf Hoppe. Karin Boyd is also a fascinating and talented actress to watch.
The DVD? The version I own must be the first edition release. The film quality appeared to be a scan and pan version. There was no interactive language menu, although English subtitles appeared by default in this German language film. As for the translation, well, some words in German are naturally more meaningful than the English translation. Still, I'm immensely delighted to possess this DVD, considering it is getting nearly impossible to find, and if you do manage to track it down it's available at some ridiculous prices. I can only hope this Oscar winning film will be re-released in the near future. It would be great to see the 1960 German version of this film ("Faust" starring Gustaf Gründgens) and some literature discussing Klaus Mann's novel included in a box set. How about it, Criterion? Kino?
Movie Review: The power of art can be so self-defeating...
Summary: 5 Stars
Lord knows I love me a biopic, and when you cast a great actor in the role of a lifetime, well you can pretty much count me in for a good time. `Mephisto' is just that type of a film, a strong, rich and vibrant accounting of a very intriguing man and his life, or at least the most pivotal points within it. The film is entrancing, compassionate, dark and brooding not to mention sensual and titillating. It has so much going for it that I'm pressed to find a single negative.
It may very well be the perfect biopic.
`Mephisto' is based off the book written by Klaus Mann, which tells the life story of actor Gustav Grundgens (probably best known for his role in 1933's `M'; an astonishing film). Gustav's name has been changed for the film to Hendrik Hoefgen, but we all know who this man is. A vibrant and eccentric stage actor, Hendrik lives and breathes his craft. His morals are conflicted when his loved ones flee from Germany in fear of Nazi rule and Hoefgen finds himself staying behind, trading his soul so-to-speak for his career. As Hoefgen slips deeper into his newfound existence we can see how it has taken its toll, transforming him into a person almost unrecognizable to himself or those closest to him. He gives up so much in the pursuit of his art, and thus defeats himself in the process.
The film is expertly crafted to grab out attention and never let it go. Each scene is haunted by the last, complimenting each other with a delicacy that flourishes within the films bleak realities.
There is a softness that blankets the films harsh undertones.
The term `role of a lifetime' is used to represent a performance that defines an actor; that focuses on all of their strengths and can be used to either jumpstart or revitalize a career; or maybe just serve as the pinnacle of their success. Personally I look at Hilary Swank's performance in `Boys Don't Cry' or Marlon Brando in `On the Waterfront' or Meryl Streep in `Sophie's Choice' as examples of this very term. Klaus Maria Brandauer had that moment here. His portrayal of the conflicted and haunted Hendrik Hoefgen is utterly genius. His expert manipulation of his characters emotions and motivations, not to mention our personal grasp of his being, is flawless. I remember seeing `Out of Africa' for the first time and just gasping over his excellence and wondering where I could see more of him. I have yet to really research his resume, but this is a performance that would be hard for any actor to top; seriously one of the best of all time.
Brandauer is in good company here. Gyorgy Cserhalmi is wonderful as Hans Miklas, one of Hoefgen's savage adversaries. Peter Andorai is effective as Otto Ulrichs, one of Hoefgen's dear friends and Karin Boyd is astonishing as Juliette, Hendrik's lover. I was very impressed with Rolf Hoppe who captured the quiet menace behind General Tabornagy's eyes; such restraint, such power.
`Mephisto' is a wonderful film, rich with meaning and an earthy realism that creates a very powerful medium. With stunning performances, detailed background and beautiful direction, `Mephisto' easily becomes one of the better biopics out there; a film that is as haunting as it is sincere; as important as it is unforgettable.
Movie Review: Selling His Soul
Summary: 5 Stars
"Mephisto" is an excellent movie about the price of the pursuit of fame. Our "hero" is an actor who believes himself to be talented in his profession. However, he is depressed that his fame is locally limited to Hamburg, Germany. What would it take for him to gain national fame and adoration? There seems to be no real opportunities for him. His life in Hamburg is that of an artist in the 1930's; associations with those on the Left and participation in "revolutionary" theatre. Out of frustration, he takes a cut in pay to venture to the big time of Berlin theater. Here he has an opportunity to throw himself in with the emerging Nazi party. His opportunism pays off and he succeeds because of his open compromising of his principles (and his principals, too, for that matter). The movie concludes with just enough uncertainty to let us draw our own conclusions.
The story was predictable but the excellence of the movie is in the acting and directing. Actors playing actors can be a bit overdone or underdone and I'm not sure what category "Mephisto" fits into. The lead actor, Klaus Brandauer, does an excellent job as does the actor who portrays the Prime Minister. The supporting cast is very good as well. There are a number of scenes that are scripted and directed to bring out both the obvious and the subtle. The most impressive touch is one I'm surprized I even noticed but it became, for my interpretation, the sign of the "kiss of death". It was a brief and innocuous scene in which certain persons entered an automobile. When I saw it the first time, it only registered because it was slightly different that what I was used to seeing. The second time it occurred, I was aware that this was not a good sign. There are plenty more touches to this movie that suggest, surprize, and sustain the audience. I was prepared to rate this with 4 stars but I realize that it is continuing to sink in even as I write this.
Movie Review: A Movie About Power and Integrity
Summary: 5 Stars
"Mephisto" carries a big message about integrity and betrayal. Its central character is a conflicted man who plays Mephistopheles on the stage, while offstage trading his own soul to the Nazis for fame and influence.
There is a fascinating background to the film, and to the 1936 Klaus Mann novel of the same title. It's often pointed out that the main character Hoefgen is a portrait of the actor Gustav Grundgens, who was married to Klaus Mann's sister Erika in the 1920's. Another literary connection: W. H. Auden later assisted Erika's escape from Germany by means of a marriage of convenience.
In the film, the devilish Hoefgen marries an angelic Erika figure and there is an amusing scene in "heaven" at the Mann family home where he chokes on the food served. Interestingly, one of the more admirable characters is a sometime Nazi whose courage is a foil to Hoefgen's compromises. There are persuasively menacing analogues of Hermann Goering and Josef Goebbels.
Klaus Maria Brandauer does a virtuoso job acting as the actor Hoefgen. Yet another layer of meaning is added to this complex movie by the fact that its director Szabo was from Communist Hungary, where artists faced their own choices about whether and how to collaborate with authority. Check out the scene where Hoefgen interprets Hamlet to journalists as a National Socialist hero.
Klaus Mann fled Germany before WWII and killed himself in France in 1949, while Grundgens had a notably successful career in the Third Reich and afterward. His Dusseldorf theater made a fine recording of Faust 1 for Deutsche Grammophon in the early 1950's. (It's now out on CD from DG Literatur, available from amazon.de.) Grundgens naturally plays Mephisto.
Movie Review: "Heaven Evidently Has Great Plans For Me" ~ Manifestations Of Evil In The 20th Century
Summary: 5 Stars
Note: German with English subtitles.
Winner of the '82 Oscar in the category of Best Foreign Film, `Mephisto' provides a fascinating glimpse behind the most notorious regime of the 20th century and the elusive spiritual force that energized its rise to power. Klaus Maria Brandauer is brilliant in the role of Hendrik Hofgen, struggling actor in Berlin circa 1930's whose ability to rationalize and dismiss the growing evil of the Nazi party eventually becomes the embodiment of the dictatorship on stage personified in the figure of Mephisto, "The spirit who negates."
Writer and director Istvan Szabo has successfully created a unique atmosphere in this production. It is a play within a play, an extravagant distraction of clever words, color and costume designed to enthrall the audience within the theater while malignant socio-political forces move into positions of power and influence in the world outside.
The viewer is slowly but surely drawn into the inner world of Hendrik Hofgen. As the film progresses one becomes aware of the myriad of layers to Hendrik's persona and eventually you will begin to peel away the various masks he so ingeniously hides behind. While his onstage performances as Mephisto are dramatic and powerful the essence of the Mephistophelian mythos is lived out off stage away from the bright lights. The manner in which he refuses to acknowledge the devastating and threatening effects of Nazism on Germany, along with the mental machinations employed by the deluded artist to justify his choice to stay in the Motherland are all a reflection of a spirit evil he has so unwittingly embraced.
Great film! Definitely -5 Stars-!