In Franz, we revisit the uncanny world of Franz Kafka through the lenses of his friends, rivals, lovers, acquaintances and, most importantly, both past and present time.

The British writer Roger Lewis recently published a subversive and provocative biography of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor (named Erotic Vagrancies). His eclectic portrait of the acting couple consists of snippets, opinions, quotations, rumours, myths, minor facts, discoveries, their film roles, betrayals, desires and private secrets. This is a book you devour within a week: a new sort of biography that might reshape the way other writers approach stories of famous people.

Agnieszka Holland – probably unconsciously, though who knows – used exactly the same narrative technique in her Kafkaesque polyphony. We discover truths about Kafka (played immaculately by Idan Weiss), but it’s not a typical biography, in which every scene follows another. It’s more of a collage with a lot of time jumps and narratives from talking heads. Instead of having a classic POV, a perspective taken straight out of Kafka’s eyes, we meet him thanks to other people. Besides, it’s also a film about youth, art and always believing in yourself, no matter the circumstances. 

The director’s Franz resembles the reality that once surrounded the writer. And, I have to admit, this is the Kafka I imagined when I read his letters to his beloved Milena. After all, it was Jesenská who once wrote that ‘two hours of life are worth more than two pages of text’. I dare say that these two hours of Franz are worth more than any two pages of Kafka’s letters. Holland proves that people contain multitudes, and somehow she has been able to present his heterogeneous personality in only two cinematic hours. Once we leave the cinema, we feel a sudden desire to go back to his greatest novels and interpret them through what we have just learned about Kafka. 

Holland recently won the second prize for her Franz, in Gdynia and was just chosen to be a Polish contender for the Oscars. Although international competition is particularly strong this year, we can all be proud that Franz fights for the reputation of our national cinema.

Photo: Kino Świat

4/5 stars

Author: Jan Tracz