Hungary’s Oscar BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM winner, directed by István Szabó, one of the country’s most eminent filmmakers, unlike most pictures depicting a pre-WWII Germany from the standpoint of the dreaded persecuted, like Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s DESPAIR (1978), MEPHISTO skews it to an squeaky-clean Caucasian German specimen, Hendrik Hoefgen (Brandauer), an apolitical theater actor in Hamburg, who is first seen yowling hysterically in his dressing room in the wake of prima donna Dora Martin (Kishonti)’s triumphant curtain call, handling peer pressure is a tricky business.

Contending for a successful career, Hendrik creates a Bolshevik theater to gain more work, marries Barbara Bruckner (Janda), a production designer hailed from a posh family, and finally makes his mark by playing Mephisto in a Faustus play, the incarnation of demon. A role is also much to the liking of the General of the Third Reich (Hoppe) - a role modeled on Hermann Göring -, when Nazi party comes to power. Barbara and many of his friends and colleagues flee from Germany, but Hendrik returns after being given amnesty for his flirtation with avant-gardism, thanks to actress Lotte Lindenthal (Harbort), who happens to the lover of the General.

Step by step, Hendrik is promoted to be the head manger of the National Theater in Berlin under the auspice of the General, who simply calls him “my dear Mephisto”, yet his apparent rising-through-the-ranks cannot save his black mistress Juliette Martens (Boyd) from being deported to Paris (although it is to his credit that she is delivered from annihilation), or the life of his friend Otto Ulrichs (Andorai), his marriage with Barbara is naturally dissolved, actress Nicoletta von Niebuhr (Bánsági), the best friend of the latter, comes as a low hanging fruit as a rightful wife, with the blessing of the General.

First and foremost, MEPHISTO’s wow factor primarily rides on Klaus Maria Brandauer’s profound proteanism, who deliriously basks in Hendrik’s time-serving complexity as well as his theatrical antics, alternately haughty, histrionic, spontaneous, heartfelt, childish or earnest, it is a career-defining tour-de-force that among the best ever. Veteran actor Rolf Hoppe (who just passed away a little more than one month earlier) also laudably impresses us with the General’s acrimonious mutability, and a plucky Karin Boyd defies any exploitation (both of her skin color and rangy body) to hold it on her own, her pas-de-deux with Brandauer in the buff demonstrates the fleeting but coruscating outburst of free spirit, soon will be submersed under the pall of smothering foreboding.

Art vs. reality, the metaphor of Mephisto can be fairly alluded to the Nazi party itself, a demonic force luring its devotees to unleash the most heinous vice onto the world, as a cog in this wicked wheel, no one, however apolitical, can come out of it unscathed, apprehending his tenuous rapport with the party, in Szabó’s glaring surreal final shots, Hendrik is running scared for his precarious future, a resounding kicker to expose evil from within, MEPHISTO, sometime running away with its high theatrics and unruly caprice, is a spine-tingling reminder of what it is like to live when perpetuating fear and injustice is hovering overhead.

referential entries: Szabó’s BEING JULIA (2004, 7.1/10); Ildikó Enyedi’s MY TWENTIETH CENTURY (1989, 7.2/10); Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s DESPAIR (1978, 7.8/10).

小的时候看过这部电影,1982年还是1983年记不清了,只记得当时前后脚上演的电影有国产的<青春万岁>,奥地利的<屠夫>.

不是因为我从小就有艺术细胞.那时候刚中国改革开放不久,看外国电影成为一种潮流.不过那时候进口的外国电影不是什么商业大片.因为进口的方式是以国与国之间文化交流的方式引进,不需要付版税,所以引进的都是一些艺术水准比较高的文艺片,和格调比较高一些的商业片.

我看这部电影是在北京东四明星电影院.是晚场,说来也可乐,那天下午不上课,学校组织看朝鲜电影<不能授勋的英雄>,记得里面有一个镜头,一个小女孩深情夸张得对来到她家,正在吃饭的侦查员叔叔说:"叔叔,我要为您唱一首我最喜爱的歌<金日成将军之歌>,然后这个小女孩就双手捧胸前,对着远方高歌,给小女孩配唱得是一个浑厚粗狂得女低音.当时电影院里乐得呀,老师都控制不住了.

看完学校组织的电影,才三点多,回家在东四换车,正好路过明星电影院,看着马上要开演得电影<摩菲斯特>,那时候法国电影<虎口脱险>才上映不久.我以为这部<摩菲斯特>也是部反纳粹的战争片,于是花了5毛钱进去了.原谅我但是太小了还不到十岁,从头到尾一点没看懂,觉得太沉闷了,只觉得配音演员的水平太高了(忘了是长影配的还是上译配的).整部电影只记住了男主角和一个女人亲热的画面,还有就是结尾.

1936年柏林奥运会前的一个深夜,男主角被纳粹军官带到柏林奥林匹克运动场,军官让他走向运动场的中心,然后四处的灯光亮起,从各个方向照到男主角身上,纳粹军官兴奋地喊着:"你觉得怎么样?"

男主角侧着身,用手阻挡着刺眼的灯光,脸上的表情,僵硬,极力在掩饰心里的恐惧,他喃喃自语:"你们到底想要我干什么?我只是一个演员."

影片最后定格于此.这部电影是我长大以后再看时,才真正看懂一些,我的感觉,影片最后一段,就是我引用的那个"你们到底想要我干什么?我只是一个演员.",就是这部电影想要表达的真正意涵.

所有的表现方式,在独裁和集权管控下,都是一种工具,无论人与物.

老电影看久了就开始习惯那种氛围，胶片的质感和戏剧化的色彩灯光造型还有表演。

故事说起来简单，其中起起伏伏也花了不少心思，松弛有度。不惜用十余分钟表现霍夫根与情人的相处，却吝啬地用三个镜头表现他与劝他离开德国的女人的关系，随后用一场看似和谐的酒会暂时舒缓情绪，牢牢抓住观众的好奇，不断推进剧情。霍夫根出场是一个不得志的三流演员，时时刻刻表现出的aggresive的确招人厌烦，但他悲惨的经历和卑微的内心又令人同情，同时影片以他的视点为主，使人逐渐代入他的立场。尤其在他做剧院院长后，在同事面前的自嘲，对同事的保护，秘密见情人妻子，都丰富了他既勇敢又懦弱，既深情又无情的维。在他做出屈服于纳粹决定时，我们并不十分厌恶唾弃他，反而十分同情，甚至会在心里喊“不，不要！”这个扮演“梅菲斯特”，被总理称为“梅菲斯特”的人，最终真的成了“梅菲斯特”。在故事的结尾或者说高潮时，我们内心逐渐生出悲凉，他不只是一个演员，他是很多演员，是当时的很多人。坚守自己的立场固然值得敬佩，但那些随风飘摇的人不见得就应该被万世唾弃。归根结底，那不是他一个人的错。

构建人物关系的视听语言值得琢磨。霍夫根第一次被邀请参与总理的聚会时，两人的特写虽然占据画面大小基本一致，但总理用仰拍，霍夫根用俯拍。二人谈话的镜头中，一个只有总理的正脸和霍夫根的侧脸，一个总理脸上有光，霍夫根则隐藏在黑暗中。俯仰在两人关系镜头中频频使用，如办公室谈话片段，还有大光圈虚化的使用都表现了总理的控制地位。霍夫根和其他人物的关系也有类似的运用。

结尾的两极镜头和强烈的光线配上bgm给人不适的感觉，最终特写的定格不免让人想到《四百击》。

政治和艺术，一直都“剪不清，理还乱”🌚