Fatherland

In 1949 Thomas Mann went back to a Germany split between occupiers, collecting honors in Frankfurt and in Soviet-controlled Weimar. Paweł Pawlikowski (Ida, Cold War) builds Fatherland around that trip and the daughter who made it with him. Hanns Zischler plays the Nobel laureate with guarded, ceremonious reserve. Sandra Hüller is Erika Mann, actress, writer, war correspondent and rally driver, who had sworn never to return and who carries the grief of her brother Klaus (August Diehl), dead on the eve of the journey. Co-written with Hendrik Handloegten and shot in black and white by Łukasz Żal, the film premiered in competition at Cannes and runs a trim 82 minutes. MUBI distributes.