Colonel Redl

The film, which has been produced by the free utilization of different literary sources, is a depiction of the cold art-nouveau world of a progressive Austro-Hungarian Monarchy at the beginning of the century. Alfred Redl, the offspring of an Ukrainian family of railway-men, advances to become a colonel and later the chief of the intelligence service of the Monarchy. The film portrays the psychological background of this breathtaking career, and the character of a "man without a face". Already as a young boy, Redl writes a poem of praise about the Emperor, and instead of attending his father's funeral, participates at the celebration organized for the honour of Franz Joseph's name-day by the Officer's Candidate School. All through his life, a special bond attaches him to his aristocratic school-mate, the Hungarian Kubinyi Kristóf, and his sister, Katalin. He models himself on them, trying to iron out his past and his family. Lacking on human emotions, ambition and the fervour of being a subject of the Emperor keeps the swing in his life. This double-sidedness of his mask explains his unparalleled enthusiasm at his last task: The successor to the throne asks him to organize his very own political trial, wishing to use him as a scape-goat in the death-dance of the agonizing state. (official distributor synopsis)