Greetings again from the darkness. Every family has a history, and some families are part of history. Such is the case for writer Thomas Mann, who along with his daughter Erika and son Klaus, are the subjects for this latest from the amazing writer-director Pawel Pawlikowski (COLD WAR, 2018; IDA, 2013) and co-writer Henk Handloegten (GOOD BYE LENIN!, 2003). In my movie viewing experience over the years, I’ve found most movies from Poland to be well made and a bit of a downer. This one fits both descriptions, and I’d add well-acted.
Erika (Sandra Huller, ANATOMY OF A MURDER, 2023; TONI ERDMAN, 2016) is accompanying her father (Hanns Zischler, CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA, 2014) on his 1949 speaking tour. Thomas Mann won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1929, and fled Germany once Hitler assumed power. Father and daughter had sworn never to return to their home country, yet here they are … not always with a warm welcome. Mr. Mann describes himself as a bourgeois relic, and it’s likely many Germans had more severe nicknames for him.
The film opens with what can be described as a prologue. It’s an awkward scene of a phone conversation between Erika and her brother Klaus (August Diehl, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, 2009), as she attempts to persuade him to join the speaking tour. We only see him and he mostly just mopes that she’s the only one who understands him, as he questions his father’s and their family’s place after the war. The conversation ends, leaving Erika with an uneasy feeling, yet hopeful Klaus will meet up with them.
Most scenes feature Erika and her father, but the black 1948 Buick Super she drives him in stands out visually. And speaking of visuals, director Pawlikowski and his frequent collaborator, cinematographer Lukasz Zal, deliver yet another striking black and white film that’s beautiful to look at, even beyond the subject matter. As one whose writing was influenced by him, Thomas Mann takes the opportunity to view the Weimar room where Goethe died many years prior. This corresponds to another incident that ultimately leads us to a powerful ending moment. The film is Poland’s official submission for this year’s Best International film, and it should receive serious consideration.
Opens in theaters on October 30, 2026
