REVIEW: ‘Mephisto,’ now available to stream from Film Forum
Photo: Klaus Maria Brandauer stars in Mephisto, an Oscar winner from 1981. Photo courtesy of Kino Lorber / Provided by Film Forum.
Mephisto, the Oscar-winning movie from 1981, is a powerful and intense study of an actor living during the rise of the Nazi regime in Germany. The film, starring an incomparable Klaus Maria Brandauer, is a drama that never ceases to amaze with its seemingly effortless combining of the personal and the political.
The movie, directed by István Szabó, based off a script he penned with Peter Diabo, follows Brandauer’s character of Hendrik Hoefgen, a dedicated actor who rises through the ranks and becomes known to German audiences for his emotive and ghostly performance as Mephistopheles in Johann Wolfgang van Goethe’s Faust.
His star is so bright, and performances so memorable, that soon enough he is tapped to run the national theater, under the watchful eye of the general (Rolf Hoppe). This is at a time when the Nazis are rising to power, and many artists are fleeing the country amidst the crackdowns and violence. Hoefgen’s performances, which used to be purely based on artistry, are now given before audience members wearing the red armbands of the party, and nationalism and fascism are clearly in the air.
At first, Hoefgen is able to balance his theater work between his personal satisfaction as an artist and the political realities around him; however, soon enough, what he’s able to produce is not good enough for the general. So, much like the plot of Faust, he must sell his soul to the devil in order to find success and survival.
Brandauer offers an overwhelming, tour-de-force performance. He is physical in his emotions and bounding in his spirit. He’s an actor at heart, and he likes to live life as if the entire world is a stage. His relationships are intense (his sex life is athletic and even violent), and his smiles and laughs are almost nonstop. At times, he is so self-consumed by his obvious skills and newfound authority that he doesn’t pay heed to old friends and those he has used as stepping stones to rise to the top of German culture.
When Brandauer dons the white makeup as Mephistopheles, he becomes an allegorical apparition, someone less human and more demonic, someone more evil than good. A sly-talking, Demi-creature who traipses around the stage, no doubt offering commentary on the real evil sitting in the audience and the changing dynamics of the world on the outside of the proscenium.
There’s much to appreciate in the supporting roles who surround and sometimes get drawn in to the orbit of Brandauer’s firecracker protagonist (based apparently on real-life actor Gustaf Gründgens). Karin Boyd plays Juliette Martens, a longtime friend of the actor who is dismayed by his transformation. Hoppe is also terrifying as the general, someone who has the actor always under his control.
There is much to think about when watching Mephisto, and no doubt the same can be said of the Klaus Mann novel it is based on. Hendrik loses his way and seems complicit in the rising fascism around him. Although he uses some of his power to effect change for his friends, more times than not he finds himself a willing puppet for the general and his ministers. He undergoes, before the audience’s watchful eye, a Faustian bargain — and he doesn’t bargain well.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Mephisto (1981). Directed by István Szabó. Written by Szabó and Peter Diabo. Based on the book by Klaus Mann. Starring Klaus Maria Brandauer, Krystyna Janda, Ildikó Bánsági, Rolf Hoppe and Karin Boyd. In German and Hungarian with English subtitles. Running time: 144 minutes. Rating: 
Click here for more information on the Kino Lorber release.
