MovieChat Forums > Mr. Klein (1976) Discussion > Kafka, of course

Kafka, of course

posted 15 years ago by Eumenides_0
8 replies | jump to latest

I think there's no need to mention how similar this movie was to Kafka's works. One innocent man by an unknown reason becomes involved with state bureaucryacy that condemns without reason.

But I've seldom seen a Kafka-esque movie that so clearly captured the oppressive and fatalistic atmosphere of Kafka. When the movie ended and I had finished digesting that ending, I just knew I had come out from one of Kafka's parables.

This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel.

[–] bosnian_flatdog 14 years ago

Yes, this struck me as a direct filmatisation of Kafka's "The Trial". The main character keeps going around in circles among friends and acquaintance without ever really getting anywhere; in the end he is taken away and exacuted. Finally someone made a movie about K. with the Holocause in mind!

[–] sonofindiandelta 14 years ago

Haneke made The Castle

[–] Eumenides_0 13 years ago

Even the ending is inspired by Kafka - not literally, of course; but just like Joseph K. refuses the policeman's help and runs away with his future executioners to be killed, so too does Klein reject his friend's help and enters the train. Both run towards their death. How amazing and terrifying!

The more I think abou this movie, the more I loved it!

This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel.

[–] Ethan_Ford 13 years ago

Joseph Losey said he was fully aware of the Kafka parallel so it was obviously very much on his mind. But another literary reference is perhaps Poe`s William Wilson which Delon played ten years earlier in the version directed by Louis Malle.

[–] Eumenides_0 13 years ago

That's another interesting possibility.

This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel.

[–] kerchable 11 years ago

I kept thinking of Edgar Allan Poes "William Wilson" especially as portrayed by Alain Delon in the story directed by Louis Malle in the 1968 trilogy "Spirits of the Dead." Literally, the parallel was as uncanny as "Robert Klein."

[–] henrimaine 9 years ago

Yes, parallels to Kafka are obvious. Putting a Kafka-like scenario into a Nazi society is a smart move. Kafka himself might have done that, had he lived some 30 years later. The fact that Kafka was a Jew only adds to the significance of the parallel.

On the other hand, the Nazi-Kafka connection somewhat waters down the symbolism of the original work by Kafka. In Kafka's novels, the "system" is mostly anonymous, not identified as any specific country. In this film, however, the "system" is clearly identified as the inhumane Nazi society. This might create the illusion as if only Nazi system was bad and the other systems (e.g. USA) are all right - not the kind of message Kafka would like to present.

[–] nedeljkodjukic88 8 years ago

Yes, and not just The Trial - also The Metamorphosis and, especially, The Castle.