Mephisto

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Mephisto

Released Mar 22, 1982

2h 15m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

79%

Tomatometer

24 Reviews

84%

Popcornmeter

2,500+ Ratings

Hendrik Hoefgen (Klaus Maria Brandauer) craves center stage. After years spent slogging it out in provincial theaters, he's grown sufficiently desperate that when the Nazi party effectively offers to make him a star, he doesn't hesitate. Great roles and plenty of praise accumulate quickly, and Hendrik revels in his success. He dreams of ultimately playing Mephisto, and to that end blithely overlooks the profound moral compromises of his situation.

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Bruce McCabe

Boston Globe

Istvan Szabo's Mephisto is brilliant metaphorical filmmaking containing one of the more memorable film-acting performances in recent years.

Apr 27, 2018

Full Review

Richard Schickel

TIME Magazine

Few have dared what Brandauer accomplishes: showing us a good actor responding to the same neurotic drive for the center of the stage, the immortalizing role. His is a great performance, nothing less.

Jul 28, 2008

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Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

A disappointingly thin, conventional film.

Jul 28, 2008

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Michael Wilmington

Isthmus (Madison, WI)

An almost magnetically powerful indictment of political opportunism in the arts.

Aug 11, 2022

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Judy Stone

San Francisco Examiner

It is an astonishing, discomfiting portrait of a type who places success above an else.

Rated: 4/4

Nov 11, 2021

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Pat Padua

Washington City Paper

Brandauer ... embodies the tortured artist through a wildly vivid range that careens from hammy, operatic full-body gestures to the most subtle changes of expression at eyeball-level.

Nov 24, 2020

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Audience Member

What's most interesting here is that the central character isn't really a fascist. He's an opportunistic conformist who embraces whatever the ruling ideology is so he can be at the very center of everything (hence why he's kind of a vague leftist before the Nazis come to power). It is all ultimately a performance which is why he collaborates so easily. Anyone who has ever been around actors knows that there is always a few who would easily embrace the most vile ideologies if it meant fame and fortune.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/13/23

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william d

Overlong and overacted by Brandauer, the film is nonetheless worth watching for its exploration on how small compromises can lead to the ultimate acceptance of evil.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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william k

Excellently produced drama presents a fascinating case of corrupted ambition, but Brandauer's sweeping performance almost burs the message.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

A talented, and previously apolitical, actor agrees to do propaganda work for the newly in-power Nazi party, as it carries both financial and social rewards. He comes to learn that, however, that not unlike his signature role, Mephistopheles, it may come at the cost of his soul.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

09/16/18

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Audience Member

I don't get it or understand its appeal. Set in a time and world I just can't relate to

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

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Audience Member

This movie packs a powerful punch. It covers a heavy topic and the dialogue is thick with ideas. Brandauer's performance as the torn Hoefgen is magical. What a wonderfully layered performance! It's a very thoughtful movie - sometimes the speed at which the ideas come at you is head spinning and this manic energy can be exhausting at times. It is though an incredibly engaging movie and worth watching more than once.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/03/23

Full Review

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István Szabó

Director

Klaus Maria Brandauer

Hendrik Hoefgen

Krystyna Janda

Barbara Bruckner

Ildikó Bánsági

Nicoletta von Niebuhr

Karin Boyd

Juliette Martens

Rolf Hoppe

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Synopsis

Hendrik Hoefgen (Klaus Maria Brandauer) craves center stage. After years spent slogging it out in provincial theaters, he's grown sufficiently desperate that when the Nazi party effectively offers to make him a star, he doesn't hesitate. Great roles and plenty of praise accumulate quickly, and Hendrik revels in his success. He dreams of ultimately playing Mephisto, and to that end blithely overlooks the profound moral compromises of his situation.

Director: István Szabó
Producer: Manfred Durniok
Distributor: Analysis Film Releasing Corporation
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 22, 1982, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 19, 2020
Runtime: 2h 15m

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