In the early 1930's Germany, ambitious stage actor Hendrik Hofgen (an extraordinary performance by Klaus Maria Brandauer) cares little for politics and lives only for his art. But when the Nazis begin their rise to power, he seizes the opportunity to perform propaganda plays for the Reich and soon becomes Germany's most popular actor. Consumed with fame, Hendrik must now survive in a world where the ideology of evil is the ultimate drama and the true cost of a man's soul becomes the most shattering measure of all. Written and directed by ISTVAN SZABO (Colonel Redl, Sunshine) and based on the novel by KLAUS MANN, the Oscar winning MEPHISTO (Best Foreign Film 1982) marked the first of three remarkable collaborations between Szabo and Brandauer and remains one of the most powerful foreign films of our time.