Detlev Buck meets Thomas Mann: The German director is supported in this ambitious undertaking by actors such as Jannis Niewöhner and Liv Lisa Fries.
Berlin – Thomas Mann, it’s not just “Buddenbrooks”, it’s not just “The Magic Mountain”.
Also worth reading is a somewhat narrower fragment of a novel that was first published in the 1950s, and thus shortly before Mann’s death: The Confessions of the Impostor Felix Krull is one of the most beautiful picaresque novels of modern times, an entertaining one that also plays into the metaphysical Story.
Director Detlev Buck has now taken on the subject: his adaptation, with well-known German actors and actresses, took almost two hours to complete. In front of the camera we see: Maria Furtwängler and Jannis Niewöhner as well as David Kross, Liv Lisa Fries and Désirée Nosbusch. Buck wrote the script together with the successful author Daniel Kehlmann (“Measuring the World”).
In his colorful and playful film, Buck tells us about a shrewd impostor, a fraudulent who is as charming as he is personable. After the early death of his father, Felix is drawn to the big wide world. In a Paris luxury hotel, he was able to fully exploit his talents for the first time: he quickly advanced from lift boy to head waiter, delighted as well as fine society ladies, including the wife of a toilet bowl manufacturer embodied by Furtwängler. Krull’s physical services are rewarded with jewelry.
Amorous and other entanglements ultimately lead to Krull getting involved in a deal: changing roles with an unhappily in love marquis. The jack-of-all-trades and blender Felix Krull is already sitting on the train to Lisbon. Where none other than the king himself is waiting for him.
This is not the first film adaptation of the novel. Perhaps the version from 1957 with Horst Buchholz is remembered; In 1981 there was a film adaptation for television. Detlev Buck has proven in countless places that he is a versatile and fascinating director (and actor): Just think of his great Neukölln thriller “Knallhart” from 2006, of unforgettable appearances in comedies such as “Männerpension”.
Which German director, besides Buck, has such different works as “Bibi & Tina” and “Asphaltgorillas” in his portfolio? Buck has an affinity for the over-the-top, for the gaudy and gaudy. Think of his dog film “Woof”. But this tendency to slapstick is not necessarily good for his “Felix Krull” at every point.
For example, the Bad Segeberger-born, who will be 60 next year, seems to have prescribed an exaggeration in facial expressions and gestures (noticeably many wide-open pairs of eyes), which is not always convincing, for his ensemble of actors. While Liv Lisa Fries (“Babylon Berlin”) is able to keep the balance between seriousness and slapstick, David Kross (“Knallhart”) is less successful. Even the immensely casual Jannis Niewöhner cannot completely convince, sometimes acting a nuance too over the top. Mann’s novel also invites you to laugh (think of the famous pattern scene) – but you will hardly find as much gossip as with Buck in the book.
Buck’s witty literary adaptation is entertaining, but never gripping. Interestingly enough, Buck himself recently stated in an interview with the magazine of the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” that he and Thomas Mann would not have gotten along so well: “I always imagined we would have an evening together. He would not stand for me and in the end veto that I direct Krull ”.
The fact that Detlev Buck also understands other tones that are perhaps more appropriate to the novel is shown by the few moments when his “Krull” expands into the philosophical-metaphysical: For example in the scene that is not only beautifully illustrated, but also hauntedly played Felix exchanges ideas with Professor Kuckuck, played by Joachim Król, during a train ride: In this almost melancholy moment, Felix Krull looks at his reflection in the train window. In the background: a majestic, humbling starry sky. dpa
