Istvan Szabo's Mephisto is brilliant metaphorical filmmaking containing one of the more memorable film-acting performances in recent years.

Few have dared what Brandauer accomplishes: showing us a good actor responding to the same neurotic drive for the center of the stage, the immortalizing role. His is a great performance, nothing less.

A disappointingly thin, conventional film.

Despite a competent performance by Brandauer, I find this a political drama that reveals significant flaws in its bland narrative and, incidentally, lacks depth in its discourse on ambition and morality in the context of Nazism. [Full review in Spanish]