Hanussen" is the third and final cooperation between director Istvan Szabo and Klaus-Maria Brandauer and in my personal opinion, the most underrated of this semi-trilogy.
"Hanussen" tells the (partially fictionalized) story of the historic hypnotizer and clairvoyant Jan-Erik Hanussen. However, Szabo has taken the liberty to change the characters background. Here, Hanussen was born Klaus Schneider, a veteran of WW1, who has gained hypnotic power and the gift of clairvoyance after suffering a head injury on the battleground. With those powers, Schneider changes his name to Hanussen, becoming one of the most celebrated magicians in pre-Nazi Germany. As the Nazi party rises to power, so does Hanussens fame and reputation. Eventually (and inevitably) Hanussen comes to the attention of the Nazis who soon use him as a tool and finally, having outlived his usefulness, discard him.
For the third time Brandauer plays a character that wishes for more than what he perceives himself as: the self-loathing officer "Oberst Redl", who's ashamed of his ethic background and sexuality; the brilliant actor in "Mephisto" who tries to camouflage his lower class background and egomania – in "Hanussen" Brandauer shows us a character who wishes he was the superior, omnipotent magician he portrays on stage but, in essence, remains a frightened, wounded victim of the battlefield. Brandauers performance is magic in the truest sense; his presence fills the screen in a way that few actors do (to mind come actors like Klaus Kinski or Al Pacino).
Brandauers brilliant performance aside, Szabo wants to teach us a lesson about the fickle nature of humanity, where self-perception, make-belief and reality are often very different, even incompatible, yet inseparable. And more important than the psychological implications, how those fickle traits can be exploited by (in this case) fascism, communism, capitalism or any other ambitious political movement you could name.
A powerful, important piece of work with a timeless message; well deserving, despite any technical or dramaturgical flaws, 8 points from 10.
"Hanussen" tells the (partially fictionalized) story of the historic hypnotizer and clairvoyant Jan-Erik Hanussen. However, Szabo has taken the liberty to change the characters background. Here, Hanussen was born Klaus Schneider, a veteran of WW1, who has gained hypnotic power and the gift of clairvoyance after suffering a head injury on the battleground. With those powers, Schneider changes his name to Hanussen, becoming one of the most celebrated magicians in pre-Nazi Germany. As the Nazi party rises to power, so does Hanussens fame and reputation. Eventually (and inevitably) Hanussen comes to the attention of the Nazis who soon use him as a tool and finally, having outlived his usefulness, discard him.
For the third time Brandauer plays a character that wishes for more than what he perceives himself as: the self-loathing officer "Oberst Redl", who's ashamed of his ethic background and sexuality; the brilliant actor in "Mephisto" who tries to camouflage his lower class background and egomania – in "Hanussen" Brandauer shows us a character who wishes he was the superior, omnipotent magician he portrays on stage but, in essence, remains a frightened, wounded victim of the battlefield. Brandauers performance is magic in the truest sense; his presence fills the screen in a way that few actors do (to mind come actors like Klaus Kinski or Al Pacino).
Brandauers brilliant performance aside, Szabo wants to teach us a lesson about the fickle nature of humanity, where self-perception, make-belief and reality are often very different, even incompatible, yet inseparable. And more important than the psychological implications, how those fickle traits can be exploited by (in this case) fascism, communism, capitalism or any other ambitious political movement you could name.
A powerful, important piece of work with a timeless message; well deserving, despite any technical or dramaturgical flaws, 8 points from 10.
