Sadly Over-hyped

Absolutely amazing

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Even after seeing Szabo's "Mephisto" a couple of times, it is still difficult to see through the actor Hoefgen, played brilliantly by one of the best actors, Klaus Maria Brandauer. Accompanying his rise to prominence, the viewers come to face important questions about morality, friendship, leadership, fame...At the beginning, Hoefgen dislikes the upcoming and dangerous Nazi clique. Yet, when he realizes that they are willing to give him the chance to become famous and respected, signs of hesitation can be hardly found - he grasps the opportunity to be in Berlin and be a director of the National Theatre. "I'am not interested in money", he says, however, he has already sold his soul to the devil (the Nazi party). Hoefgen has become the victim of his acclaimed theater character, Mephisto. Mephisto of the real world offered him to "win the crown of mankind" as Hoefgen did in his theater role, and the latter willingly accepted it. He closed his eyes to the beatings of the Jews he witnessed, the expelling of his lover, the escape of his wife, the banning from theater of his friends, etc.And yet, has he become the reincarnation of evil, the real Mephisto? I am inclined to think that Hoefgen had good intentions about his closest who opposed the system. This is shown by the fact that he insisted in front of the Nazi officials for his black lover to leave Nazi Germany safely and that his friend, Ulrichs, be rehabilitated. And he did it successfully. At that point comes the question whether Hoefgen made the right choice - should he have gone to the opposition and thus failed to save anyone, or he did the right thing by accepting Mephisto's offer and becoming a man of certain influence which he used to save his closest? Then again, do you close your eyes to the brutality around you as long as you and your friends are safe? A very interesting comparison can be made between the actor Miklas, played by the Hungarian Cserhalmi and also seen in the Czech Oscar-nominated production "Zelary" and other legendary films by the Hungarian directors Bela Tarr and Miklos Jancso, and Hoefgen. The former is an ardent supporter of the Nazis at the beginning but later becomes disillusioned and chooses the opposition. Hoefgen, on the other hand, moves in the opposite way in the movie. From an opponent of the Nazi "Mörderpakt" ("murderous thugs") as he calls them at the beginning, he becomes a follower (albeit no participant) and goes as far as to betray Miklas and his plan to the Nazi officials, resulting into Miklas' death. At the moment when Hoefgen learns about his death, he refuses to believe he was murdered but instead insists it was a car accident. In the close up of Brandauer's face talking to the woman, I believe the viewer can read regret in his eyes...Through both characters, and mainly through Hoefgen, Szabo raises the topic of the role of the intelligentsia in the Nazi rise to power. What were they supposed to do? The ones in the opposition either died or went into exile (as Hoefgen's wife). The rest followed the Nazis, willingly or not. In that age of hopelessness, should one sell his soul to Mephisto as Hoefgen did - then rise to power and save whomever you can? Overall, are we from our position nowadays able to judge how the intelligentsia/the actors should have acted? "Mephisto" has to be seen in the light of Szabo's life. It was recently revealed he was an informant for the Hungarian government in the 50's. In an interview he claimed to have saved himself and a friend of his from "being gibbeted". Resemblance to Hoefgen...? The towering performance of Brandauer as Hoefgen is absolutely stunning. His face, stature, looks, eyes, everything fits perfectly into the image of the divided personality of the main character (indicative of this personality is the Nazi general's inquiring why Hoefgen has such a soft handshake). Regarding the images, there is hardly a viewer who can forget Mephisto's white face on Brandauer and the shots of Hoefgen's moments of madness, estimation, megalomania, anger...Especially powerful is the last scene where Hoefgen is running and trying to hide from the giant searchlights of Olympiastadion in Berlin, his curved, almost crying face, and saying, "Was wollt ihr von mir? Ich bin nur ein Schauspieler.", "What do you want from me? I'm just an actor........"

Discovered this film which was showing on TV in the early hours of the AM and enjoyed the entire story about a German actor who reached the top of his career in Nazi controlled Germany. Klaus Maria Brandauer,(Hendrik Hoefgen) played the role of this actor who was a perfectionist in his field of acting on the stage and was very successful in performing his role as Mephisto (The Devil) in "Faust" and the German people and Nazi's who loved his performance. The Nazi's decided to use Hendrik Hoefgen as their State Theatre Director and use this position as a propaganda platform in the Threate Arts and deceive the German people. Hendrik Hoefgen had a strong desire to present "Hamlet" to the German people and it seems that once this performance was presented, his career started to decline from the lime lights and the Nazi Government. There is an inter-racial love affair going on by Hendrik Hoefgen which adds a great deal of love and romance besides all his other lovers. Great Film, enjoy.

Having just sat down and watched this film and then having checked the reviews of post-viewing, I find it hard to believe I watched the same film. I was looking forward to see a dark parable on the cost of success and looking the other way, the hunger of adulation and success that an actor craves at any cost. I was however left feeling very under-whelmed at the end the picture. I don't want to destroy the film entirely, it's just that I feel in many regards it's not worthy of the level of brilliance and expectation that its reputation comes with.The lead character has little in the way of an arc and although I will agree that the lead performance is excellent, it's a shame there's so little for him to do. There is little character growth, he just seems to go through set scenes that are unfortunately predictable and without drive. Intellectual film watchers may watch this film and gaze in wonder at the parables and symbols in this film but I found them awkward and clumsy and the plot only half-explored, as if the director is afraid to create some sort of dramatic tension. Hendrik's affair and story with the black dancer in this film holds a lot of possibilities and could be used to investigate deeper motivations in Hendrik Hoefger and Nazi Germany at large, yet is brutally under-utilized and washes by seemingly without much of a thought.The problem I feel is that although it does tick many of the boxes for being a smart and intelligent film, it seems to tick these boxes so deliberately as to feel cold. Most of the time the film seems to run through a mental check-list of what respectable cinema should be and although, yes smarts in film is a good thing and should be brought to the table as much as possible, Mephisto seems to have forgotten to bring drive to the story and so it seems to drag out far longer than necessary. I really wish I could like this film but there's too much lacking for me, it just seems too pompous and convinced of its own self-worth for it's own good.

This was a superbly acted and visually stimulating film.The most interesting element for me was Hendrik's refusal to allow his conscience to interfere with his life's work as an actor. Being an actor, and more importantly an actor able to act in his mothertongue in his own land, is all to this man. Initially indifferent to the rise of the Nazis, unable to accept that their government will change his life, he follows them and befriends a high-ranked Nazi so that his "art" might continue. But it can never be as it was before. Yet he continues to do as he is told, to use the theatre as a propaganda medium, without questioning the consequences. He cannot admit to himself that he has made the wrong decision and even when he is in Paris and is presented with another opportunity to escape the Nazi regime, he returns to Germany to the pursuit of his theatrical life, no matter how restricted it is.Excellent film with a very good lead performance.