The Tobacconist

THE TOBACCONIST / Der Trafikant

BOSTON PREMIERE

Introduction by Helmut Landes, Deputy Consul of Germany to New England (May 9)
Introduction by Karin Oehlenschlaeger, Program Curator, Goethe Institut Boston (May 19)

Vienna under Nazi occupation is the setting for this ravishingly-shot wartime drama about a young man and his unlikely friendship with Sigmund Freud. 17-year-old Franz (the charismatic Simon Morze) works as an apprentice at a tobacco shop where the psychoanalyst (Bruno Ganz, Downfall, Wings of Desire) is a regular customer, and the two develop an immediate bond. When Franz falls desperately in love with a music hall dancer named Anezka, he turns to Freud for advice. As war approaches and the city descends into turmoil, the dramas of this young man’s life are swept up into the larger maelstrom of events. Based on the international bestseller by Robert Seethaler, starring acclaimed actor Bruno Ganz in one of his final screen performances.

“A World War II-era story told with unusual sensitivity…a stunning recreation of the late 1930s in Vienna…[the] voluptuous filmmaking…expertly captures the tensions in the Austrian capital on the eve of Hitler’s takeover…Actors shine in a—literally—Freudian romance.” —Hollywood Reporter

Dir: Nikolaus Leytner | Germany | 2018 | 108m | German w/ English subtitles

CO-PRESENTED BY: Goethe-Institut Boston New Films From Germany Series
PARTNERS: Center for German & European Studies at Brandeis University;
Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry at Brandeis University

Thursday, May 9, 5:00 pm
Museum of Fine Arts (Remis)

SCREENING COMPLETED

Sunday, May 19, 11:00 am
Coolidge Corner Theatre

SCREENING COMPLETED