Directed by:
Oskar RoehlerComposer:
Martin TodsharowCast:
Tobias Moretti, Moritz Bleibtreu, Martina Gedeck, Justus von Dohnányi, Martin Feifel, Anna Unterberger, Armin Rohde, Paula Kalenberg, Erika Marozsán (more)Plots(1)
Ferdinand Marian was the actor who in 1940 gave a brilliant performance in the lead in Veit Harlan's Nazi propaganda film JUD SÜSS – but the role was to break him.
The situation already begins to come to a head for Marian during the filming when his wife distances herself from him because she can't bear to see how her husband has changed. The national and international success of JUD SÜSS – which delights audiences at its premiere at the Venice international film festival founded by Mussolini – is but a brief, albeit ecstatic, intermezzo. In time the Nazis' new superstar begins to see through the effect that the film has on society; he also recognises the criminal nature of the regime. Not only are many of his friends forced to emigrate; the Marians also hide Jewish actor Adolf Wilhelm Deutscher in their summerhouse – until a maid denounces Deutscher to her SS lover.
In a desperate attempt to distract himself, Marian succumbs to alcoholic binges and affairs but his actions only succeed in earning him the disapproval of, among others, the propaganda minister himself. In a bid to control him, Goebbles has Marian's wife Anna deported. But this only accelerates the actor's demise, and even his Czech lover Vlasta can no longer give him the support he needs. He no longer wishes to have anything to do with the most successful film of his career.
After the end of the war Marian observes others who were involved in the film attempting to acquit themselves – particularly its director, Nazi propagandist Veit Harlan. At a garden party in Munich Marian meets concentration camp survivor Deutscher, who informs him of Anna's death. Unable to bear Vlasta's intimate behaviour with an American soldier, he breaks down, gets into his car and drives off, never to return again.
(Berlinale)
Cast
Tobias Moretti
Austria
Best movies:
Maximilian & Marie De Bourgogne (2017) (series)
Dem Mörder verfallen - Eine Frau in Gefahr (1999) (TV movie)
Das ewige Lied (1997) (TV movie)
Moritz Bleibtreu
West Germany
Best movies:
Paradis Express (1997)
The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008)
Time You Change (2010)
Martina Gedeck
West Germany
Best movies:
The Lives of Others (2006)
The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008)
Life Is All You Get (1997)
Justus von Dohnányi
West Germany
Best movies:
Downfall (2004)
Before the Fall (2004)
Lessons of a Dream (2011)
Martin Feifel
West Germany
Best movies:
The Promised Land (2023)
Snowland (2005)
What to Do in Case of Fire (2001)
Anna Unterberger
Italy
Best movies:
Freddy/Eddy (2016)
13 Minutes (2015)
Gundermann (2018)
Armin Rohde
West Germany
Best movies:
Run Lola Run (1998)
Life Is All You Get (1997)
Barefoot (2005)
Paula Kalenberg
West Germany
Best movies:
Vom Atmen unter Wasser (2008) (TV movie)
A Year in Winter (2008)
Jew Suss: Rise And Fall (2010)
Erika Marozsán
Hungary
Best movies:
Gloomy Sunday (1999)
The Company (2007) (series)
Sources of Life (2013)
Ralf Bauer
West Germany
Best movies:
Jew Suss: Rise And Fall (2010)
Tatort (1970) (series)
Models (2000) (TV movie)
Robert Stadlober
Austria
Best movies:
Enemy at the Gates (2001)
A Whole Life (2023)
Diplomacy (2014)
Milan Peschel
East Germany
Best movies:
Stopped on Track (2011)
The Captain (2017)
Lessons of a Dream (2011)
Gudrun Landgrebe
West Germany
Best movies:
Heimat: A Chronicle of Germany (1984) (series)
Wunderkinder (2011)
Cracks in the Shell (2011)
Manuel Rubey
Austria
Best movies:
Falco - Verdammt, wir leben noch! (2008)
Jew Suss: Rise And Fall (2010)
Corsage (2022)
Waldemar Kobus
Poland
Best movies:
Valkyrie (2008)
Black Book (2006)
The Captain (2017)
Johannes Silberschneider
Austria
Best movies:
Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001) (TV movie)
Comedian Harmonists (1997)
La Rébellion (1993) (TV movie)
Elke Winkens
West Germany
Best movies:
Jew Suss: Rise And Fall (2010)
Medcrimes - Nebenwirkung Mord (2013) (TV movie)
Schatten der Erinnerung (2010) (TV movie)
Felix Hellmann
West Germany
Best movies:
Shoppen (2006)
Jew Suss: Rise And Fall (2010)
Ein Tisch in der Provence (2020) (series)
Alexander Strobele
Austria
Best movies:
Schindler's List (1993)
Via Mala (1985) (series)
Uprising (2001) (TV movie)
Martin Butzke
West Germany
Best movies:
Downfall (2004)
Shoppen (2006)
Jew Suss: Rise And Fall (2010)