April 1957: Rational engineer Faber's plane crashes in Mexico, where he learns that he became a father in 1938. He takes a ship from NYC to France and meets cute, young Sabeth. Is it fate?
Acting
Sam Shepard's glacier-like thaw is devastatingly precise
Cinematography
Ship-bound longing that makes cruises feel dangerously romantic
Director
Volker Schlöndorff
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Based on Max Frisch's 1957 novel 'Homo Faber,' a cornerstone of post-war European literature about Swiss neutrality and moral cowardice.
Schlöndorff fought to cast Julie Delpy at 21; her ethereal quality was meant to suggest something 'not quite real' about Sabeth.
DE
