Period piece... .deutschland, in the years leading up to world war II. Hendrik is the opinionated, tempermental actor. And doesn't want his fiancee hanging around her nazi friends. When he goes to berlin to work on the stage, he resents having to give up his ideals, and pretending to support the rising wave of nazism around him. As much as he wants to leave the dangers of berlin, he loves the part of mephisto, and cannot seem to leave. For now, he can act, and pretend to go along with the politics, but it's getting more and more difficult. It's very long. Some parts get quite florid and talky, since he is a stage actor. They easily could have shortened this by thirty minutes, maybe more, without losing anything. They sure spend a lot of time showing us the strange relationship he had with the higher ups in the nazi party. Has much in common with the the leni riefenstahl story. Mephisto is good. But long! Full frontal nudity. Directed by istván szabó. Story by klaus mann. He had several novels made into film. He made it to america, but later offed himself a couple years after the end of the war.
