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.
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.