Mephisto

The German actor Hendrik Höfgen is driven by immense ambition in the thirties' Germany. In the theatre of Homburg he prepares himself for the great task by tremendous efforts. He marries the rich Barbara Bruckner and goes to Berlin. Finally he can play the dream of his life, Mephisto in Faust. After the great success all his thoughts and time are occupied by the stage, not realising how he commits himself more and more to the Nazi. He is nominated to be the intendant of the Prussian State Theatre by the General who seems to be paving the way for Höfgen's carrer. His wife leaves Germany, his Jewish friend disappears, his half-blood girlfriend is expelled, the General humiliates him cruelly. His friends want to rescue him from Germany, but he stays on: he keeps on stepping upwards to the top of the artistic career. In his life he is not Mephisto, rather Faust, entering into a blind agreement with the devil. Fear grasps him for the first time when the General lets him be illuminated by the mighty, powerful reflectors in the enormous stadium, the new theatre of the Nazi under construction. (officiële tekst van distribiteur)