One of the best films about the Holocaust.
A universally relevant, realistic yet elusive portrait of an era and mankind.
Alain Delon considered this his best performance: a prodigious portrayal of cynicism and seduction entangled in a Kafkaesque web.
Critic Tullio Kezich writes: “Mr. Klein is one of the best films ever made about the Holocaust.” The theme is addressed, however, by focusing our attention of the destiny of one individual, a cynical man who gradually finds himself becoming entangled in a Kafkaesque web and ends up on a train bound for Auschwitz. The wonderful screenplay by Franco Solinas and excellent direction by Joseph Losey, transport the audience into a universe that is both realistic yet disorientating and elusive, deeply interwoven with allusions, populated by doppelgangers who cause crises of identity, and layered with mirrors that reflect a distorted reality. Therefore, it is not only a film about a terrible historical period, but also a portrait of mankind that is relevant to everyone. Alain Delon co-produced and starred as a prodigious Mr Klein, bringing to life a character who is as seductive as he is relentlessly cruel.
In Petain’s collaborationist France, cynical antique dealer Robert Klein enriches himself by purchasing the possessions of deported Jews. Then one day, he discovers the existence of his namesake, a Jew and partisan wanted by the Gestapo. The presence of this other Mr Klein begins to haunt him. The Prefecture begins to suspect him…
One of the best films about the Holocaust.
A universally relevant, realistic yet elusive portrait of an era and mankind.
Alain Delon considered this his best performance: a prodigious portrayal of cynicism and seduction entangled in a Kafkaesque web.
Critic Tullio Kezich writes: “Mr. Klein is one of the best films ever made about the Holocaust.” The theme is addressed, however, by focusing our attention of the destiny of one individual, a cynical man who gradually finds himself becoming entangled in a Kafkaesque web and ends up on a train bound for Auschwitz. The wonderful screenplay by Franco Solinas and excellent direction by Joseph Losey, transport the audience into a universe that is both realistic yet disorientating and elusive, deeply interwoven with allusions, populated by doppelgangers who cause crises of identity, and layered with mirrors that reflect a distorted reality. Therefore, it is not only a film about a terrible historical period, but also a portrait of mankind that is relevant to everyone. Alain Delon co-produced and starred as a prodigious Mr Klein, bringing to life a character who is as seductive as he is relentlessly cruel.
In Petain’s collaborationist France, cynical antique dealer Robert Klein enriches himself by purchasing the possessions of deported Jews. Then one day, he discovers the existence of his namesake, a Jew and partisan wanted by the Gestapo. The presence of this other Mr Klein begins to haunt him. The Prefecture begins to suspect him…
