István Szabó’s 1981 film Mephisto, the first Hungarian film to win the Academy Award for Best International Feature, has been restored and rereleased by Second Run in collaboration with the National Film Institute Hungary. The film, a dark fable about a stage actor’s Faustian pact with the Nazi party, arrives alongside Szabó’s follow-ups Colonel Redl and Hanussen.
Mephisto follows Hendrik Höfgen, an ambitious actor who cuts ties with his leftist theatre roots to ingratiate himself with the Nazis as they rise to power. Klaus Maria Brandauer delivers a vivid central performance, capturing Höfgen’s frustrated ambition and fatal capacity for seduction. The film is based on the real-life story of Gustaf Gründgens, whose career flourished under Nazi patronage, and was adapted from Klaus Mann’s scathing novel.
Speaking at 87, Szabó reflects on the film’s enduring relevance amid rising authoritarianism. “The desire for self-assertion is a human trait that can create many positive values,” he says. “The problem arises when it is used for the sake of a wrong ideology or policy, and a talented person allows themselves to be exploited. This still exists in the 21st century, and it does not necessarily require a dictatorship. The power of business is enough.”
Szabó, who considers himself a Hungarian director, emphasises the importance of central European history in his work. “History marches relentlessly through central Europe,” he notes, referencing his depictions of the Austro-Hungarian empire’s collapse and the Holocaust. The rerelease coincides with a year of heightened focus on Hungarian art, including a Nobel prize for László Krasznahorkai and a Booker win for David Szalay.
