1938. While the Nazi troops march into Vienna, the lawyer Josef Bartok hastily tries to escape to the USA with his wife but is arrested by the Gestapo. Bartok remains steadfast and refuses to cooperate with the Gestapo that requires confidential information from him. Thrown into solitary confinement, Bartok is psychologically tormented for months and begins to weaken. However, when he steals an old book about chess it sets him on course to overcome the mental suffering inflicted upon him, until it becomes a dangerous obsession.
Acting
Masucci's descent from dignity to obsession is devastating.
Direction
Stölzl turns empty rooms into psychological torture chambers.
Sound
The silence screams louder than any score could.
Director
Philipp Stölzl
Oliver Masucci
Dr. Josef Bartok
Albrecht Schuch
Franz-Josef Böhm
Birgit Minichmayr
Anna Bartok
Rolf Lassgård
Owen McConnor
Andreas Lust
Johann Prantl
Samuel Finzi
Alfred Koller
Lukas Miko
Gustav Sailer
Joel Basman
Barkeeper Willem
Clemens Berndorff
Dr. Swoboda
Johannes Zeiler
Dr. Fink
Maresi Riegner
Maid Klara
Luisa-Céline Gaffron
Fridl
Moritz von Treuenfels
Policeman Erich
Carl Achleitner
Chess Player
Eric Bouwer
Dr. Wouters
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Based on Stefan Zweig's final novella, written in 1942 before his suicide in Brazil—this was his literary farewell to a Europe consumed by fascism.
The film mirrors Zweig's own exile: a Viennese intellectual who fled the Nazis, only to find that physical escape couldn't outrun psychological destruction. Bartok's chess mania reflects Zweig's fear that refugees become ghosts of their former selves.
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