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Franz: Becoming Kafka


In this fractured, somewhat unconventional biopic, various characters take on the role of narrator, breaking the fourth wall within the story. As curious as the method of delivery here is, the bones of the film itself still function to paint the picture of one of the 20th century's most lauded writers. We witness Kafka's less than perfect childhood with unloving father and powerless mother; his possible spectrum hovering; his near-crippling insecurities; his tricky relationships with women; and eventually the illness that brought on his early death.

Director Agnieszka Holland is still firing at 77 years old, she's quite happy to lean towards experimentation and, along with her co-writer, Marek Epstein, she imbues the film with a surrealism similar to Kafka's work. Aside from the 'to camera' narration, the timeline jumps around, even bringing in elements of 21st century Kafka tourism with French, Japanese and American tour guides, who may or may not be on the level ("Kafka loved...potatoes.")


Oddly, I felt the guy who plays Kafka (Idan Weiss) was a difficult performer to warm to. Maybe he was told to play Franz as a soporific dreamer, but all the orbital characters are more interesting, especially his parents, Hermann and Julie (Peter Kurth and Sandra Kornzeniak), and sister Ottla (Katharina Stark). 

The film is slightly overlong and some scenes could have been excised without losing anything from the story (what little there is), but a couple of moments illustrate why it's sometimes best to hold the shot. For example, there's one slightly wobbly, post-coital take where Milena (Jenovéfa Boková) opens a window looking onto a cherry blossom tree, the smoke from her fag drifting through the frame. Nice lens work there from Tomasz Naumiuk.


Ultimately, I have mixed feelings about this film - I appreciate the style (Holland is a favourite) but although they tried to eschew conventional biopic structure, the cliched beats of the genre still remain. And I think it could have done with being slightly less ambitious, maybe focussing in on one period of his life, rather than attempting to cover it all, as well as the admittedly worthwhile, modern time leaps. The engagement to Felice (Carol Schuler) seemed like the central angle but if so, it didn't quite carry the requisite drama. To sum up, this is worth a look, especially if you're a fan of Kafka's work. It suffers from the restrictions of the biopic genre but it makes a better fist of it than most.

Franz: Becoming Kafka opens at the Luna cinemas on May 21st.

See also:

The bloke who plays Kafka's father is also in a film called Two to One (2024), directed by Natja Brunckhorst, screened at last year's German Film Festival. Agnieszka Holland's Olivier, Olivier (1992) is just a brilliant film. And finally, Steven Soderbergh made a film, Kafka (1991) which I haven't seen yet but looks to have a cracking cast.

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