Kinoteka Polish Film Festival 2026: Franz

Writers: Marek Epstein and Agnieszka Holland

Director: Agnieszka Holland

Author Franz Kafka is known for dark absurdist novels of paranoia. Yet, there are reports of him moving friends to tears of mirth by reading extracts from his works. The biopic Franz, written by Marek Epstein and Agnieszka Holland and directed by the latter, embraces this duality.

Franz has a conventional cradle-to-grave structure.  Franz Kafka (Idan Weiss) lives his life in the shadow of his dominating father (a superbly crass, ignorant and overbearing Peter Kurth) to the extent it is observed Kafka remained a boy who never complained; his only rebellion being fastidious eating habits and vegetarianism.  As Kafka’s writing was not appreciated during his lifetime the film is built around his relationships with women; the writer portrayed less as a tortured artist more as a bit of a ladies’ man.

Kafka’s engagement to working-class German woman Felice Bauer (Carol Schuler) falls apart when his passionate letters to her best friend Grete Bloch (Gesa Schermuly) come to light. Kafka attempts to resist seduction by the translator of his novels by protesting he is friends with her husband only to get the curt reply that is something they have in common.

There is no disputing the authenticity of the details in Franz, the description (and Carol Schuler’s portrayal) of Felice Bauer is taken word-for-word from Kafka’s letters. However, in order to communicate a great deal of biographical information and comment upon the influence of Kafka in today’s society, director Agnieszka Holland employs a  number of techniques which can be distancing and confusing.

Rather than employ a single narrator Holland has the characters behave as if being interviewed in a documentary and break the fourth wall to address the audience direct.  Kafka’s uncle maintains he was a normal, healthy boy while his friend Max Brod (Sebastian Schwarz) explains there is no truth to the rumour Grete Bloch had Kafka’s child without his knowledge.

There is a blurring of fact and fiction to show the influence of Kafka’s real-life experiences upon his work. Like his fictional characters Kafka obeys his dominating father and learns to swim by diving into a lake and later hallucinates his fingers are becoming webbed.

Director Holland draws attention to the manner in which Kafka’s works can be romanticised and rendered suitable for present day consumer society. The film shows Kafka succumbing to paranoia and imagining himself under observation and then suggests this might be true as the narrative jumps forward to scenes in Prague’s real-life Franz Kafka Museum where Kafka’s belongings are scrutinised and a curator describes him as a social person rather than a recluse.

Idan Weiss plays Kafka with an impish sense of humour. He struggles to retain a straight face during ponderous announcements at his place of work and is the only person who finds it amusing that a health retreat is run by nudists including the receptionist who insists on wearing a scarf. Weiss’s version of Kafka might appreciate being served a ‘Kafka Burger’ in a café bearing his name.

Various stories by Kafka are referenced in the film but the only one explored in depth is In The Penal Colony which is enacted as a lurid story-within-the-story while a public reading is given. It adds to a varied film but stands out amongst the more naturalistic storytelling.

There is an excellent distinction between talent and genius. Max Brod is so awed by Kafka’s writing he burns his own manuscripts and devotes himself to preserving the works of his friend. When Kafka reads extracts from The Trial Brod gleefully anticipates an optimistic ending in which the innocence of the central character highlights the corruption of the system. We know Kafka had other, darker ideas.

Having shown the human side of the great writer Kafka comes to the conclusion his work is more important than his life moving beyond his death from tuberculosis to show his friend Max Brod bravely smuggling Kafka’s writings past the invading Nazi regime. Brod ignored an instruction from Kafka to burn all unpublished works on the grounds his friend knew he would not comply and, if he really wanted the writings destroyed, would have asked someone else. Closing scenes of Nazi war atrocities are a stark reminder reality can be more horrifying than the imagination of Franz Kafka.

A mixture of respect for the subject and an irreverent method of presentation make Franz a suitable tribute to Franz Kafka. The fragmented storytelling, however, results in a crowded film in which it is hard to identify all of the points intended to be made.

Franz screens at Kinoteka Polish Film Festival on 3 March