Ulrich Mott is an eccentric and versatile social climber with grandiose plans to affect United States foreign policy. Encouraged in his attempts by his strategically chosen (and much older) wife, the well-connected journalist Elsa Brecht, Mott has a knack for making himself indispensable and impossible to ignore. The only one seemingly immune to his charms is Elsa's daughter Amanda, who might simply disapprove of her mother marrying a much younger man - or perhaps she senses something more sinister beneath the smooth-talking surface?
Acting
Waltz commits fully to making Mott the most punchable man in cinema
Direction
Waltz's debut shows theatrical instincts, for better and weirder
Writing
Based on a wild true story that reads like a New Yorker acid trip
Director
Christoph Waltz
Christoph Waltz
Ulrich Mott
Annette Bening
Amanda Brecht
Vanessa Redgrave
Elsa Brecht
Corey Hawkins
Daniel Volker
Sergio Di Zio
Gordon Nichols
Noam Jenkins
Talabani
David Reale
Weatherford
Paulino Nunes
Prosecutor Kirshner
Ron Lea
Detective Reid
Laura de Carteret
Eleanor Price
Victoria Snow
Peggy Mason
Saad Siddiqui
Zahari
Vickie Papavs
Rebecca Durant
Caroline Palmer
Hotel Clerk
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The film quietly satirizes DC's revolving door of self-important think tank bros who've never been to the countries they lecture about.
US
