Mephisto
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Movie Reviews of Mephisto
Movie Review: Challenging film about the rise of Nazism
Summary: 5 Stars
The Bottom Line:
A fascinating movie about the rise of an actor short on talent but skilled at ingratiating himself with the up and coming Nazi party in 1930s Germany, Mephisto features a very good performance by Klaus Maria Brandauer as the actor whose only successful role (as Mephisto in a stage version of Faust) works because selling his soul hits so close to home; a sometimes slow but very rewarding film, Mephisto won a deserved Best Foreign Language Oscar and is no less impressive today.
3.5/4
Movie Review: Not Quite the Masterpiece of Memory
Summary: 4 Stars
For years this film was a kind of holy grail to me. I remember the overpowering effect Brandauer's performance had when I saw it during its initial release. That was long before I paid much attention to a film's formal properties. (In the meantime I've become a fan of Bergman, Bresson, Melville, Kieszlowski, Fassbinder, Kaurismaeki, et al.)
That the out-of-print DVD was only available at exorbitant sums (scarcity value) only added to the film's allure.
Re-watching it I was surprised to find myself put-off by the dubbing necessary to bring the international cast into synch. I've always hated dubbing, a practice that makes Italian films so off-putting. Brandauer certainly hams it up, to great effect in places. But I quickly tired of him the second time around. The shock-value was nullified, and the film's value lies mainly in his manic self-display.
The liberties taken with Goethe's Faust text (the audience applauds the line "Du bleibst doch immer was du bist" as if it were the end of an act) annoyed me. And the actor playing Faust appears to have been lobotomized. In a film that relies on performances as much as Mephisto, such flaws are glaring. Non-German language speakers innocent of Goethe's play won't have such issues, of course.
The other thing I found amateurish was the random and additive feel of the emplotment and editing. The intriguing inevitability and dramatic power that truly great films possess was missing. It just felt slapped-together. "Breezy" is not the mood/style I would have chosen to render this story. And I have no doubt any number of directors working today could have fashioned a more coherent film. There's just too much French New-wave sensibility at work here.
Mephisto is obviously low-budget. The "costumes" don't have a authentic period feel & look like something from of a second-hand store. A 1970s take on the 40s. (In this respect it reminded me a bit of modernism of Bertolluci's "The Conformist".)
I haven't seen anything by Szabo that felt formally compelling. Maybe formal sloppiness is a slavic thing. I speculate.
The quality of the transfer was surprisingly good.
Movie Review: Complex Political Film
Summary: 4 Stars
István Szabó's Mephisto is not always the easiest film to watch but the careful viewer will be rewarded. Klaus Maria Brandauer gives the performance of his career as actor Hendrik Hoefgen as he moves from a provincial player to acclaimed star and puppet of the Third Reich. The film is much more than a biopic of actor Gustaf Gründgens it is a subtle analysis of the place of art in an oppressive government.
Hoefgen is a political idealist in his native Hamburg wanting to stage plays to bring art to the masses. He gives up his dream when he moves to Berlin and becomes a tool of the National Socialists. The exploration is whether or not true art has a place in this type of government or whether art is just another piece of propaganda that can be used to keep those in power in power. Hoefgen finds that the artist must give up everything including his soul to reach the top. Brandauer's performance is magnificent and he is supported by a great cast. Szabo's long time cinematographer Lajos Koltai creates a mood of oppression with his intentionally long sweeping shots that sometimes seem to go on forever.
The film has long been out of print but can be found at some cost in this Anchor Bay edition which features a slightly dark transfer of the film with English subtitles. The subtitles are clear but may not always accurately translate the original German. The only extras are text biographies of Brandauer and Szabo and a short but vital featurette called The Naked Face which covers both Brandauer's and Szabo's methods for filmmaking.
This is a long difficult film but well worth the investment of time for anyone interested in serious foreign films.
Movie Review: It Has Been Done Better
Summary: 2 Stars
My wife and I have just seen this film at the Traverse City Film Festival and I was interested whether I could get the DVD. I "was" interested until I saw the prices for the used copies since, apparently, it is now out of print.
Mephisto was our fifth movie of the day. Interestingly, we came to the venue featuring this film having just finished seeing Donnersmarck's "The Lives of Others." Both deal with totalitarian regimes controlling artists and the compromises those artists choose to tolerate... or not. "Lives" was elegant, involving, and heart-wrenching. "Mephisto" was odd and disorienting right from the start, and felt sterile and staged in comparison. The audience (the small auditorium was only a third filled, much to my surprise) had almost no response and a significant number of people walked out before the film was over (OK, it started at 10 PM and perhaps some people just couldn't keep their eyes open to read the subtitles.) Meanwhile, "Lives" played to a large, packed auditorium that was silent and attentive throughout, and broke into extended applause at the perfectly fitting final line. "Mephisto's" final line is also famous (or so I read), but comes so abruptly that I could hardly digest it before the lights came up. There was not one clap (or response of any kind) at the end of "Mephisto" (which is very unusual at the Traverse City Film Festival) and the audience filed out silently with little conversation.
Yes, I know that not all great films evoke a warm audience response, but the difference between the two films was undeniable and I suspect the impact of the films on those who saw both will be in the same proportion as the reaction I saw. Actually, I wanted a DVD of "Mephisto" so that I could see it once more to attempt to understand why some people I respect a great deal thought this was one of the best films of the 80's. To me it seemed stilted and confusing, Further, there was no one in the film that I could identify with or that I truly cared about. And forgive me, but isn't the story obvious and predictable by the time you get to the 45 minute mark? Yes, it was sad to see the protagonist continually delude himself as to his compromises and motives, but how long does that hold one's interest? Especially when you really don't like him very much or care what happens to him?
So no, I will not be shelling out 50+ bucks for the DVD. Maybe I'll rent it one day again. Sometimes I really do wonder why certain films get such fantastic reputations when so few people really seem to enjoy watching them. So buyer (or viewer) beware.