Home / Der Unhold

Der Unhold

Year:

1996

Duration:

118 min

Genres:

Drama

IMDB rate:

Director:

Volker Schlöndorff

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Details

Country: France

Release Date: 1996-09-12

Filming Locations: Malbork, Pomorskie, Poland

Earnings

Opening Weekend: $3,500 (USA) (13 December 1998)

Gross: $49,166 (USA) (5 September 1999)

Cast

Actor

Character

Heino Ferch

John Malkovich

Abel Tiffauges

Armin Mueller-Stahl

Count von Kaltenborn

Gottfried John

Chief Forester

Marianne Sägebrecht

Frau Netta

Volker Spengler

Fieldmarshall Göring

Dieter Laser

Professor Blättchen

Agnès Soral

Rachel

Sasha Hanau

Martine

Luc Florian

Prisoner of War

Laurent Spielvogel

Prisoner of War

Marc Duret

Prisoner of War

Philippe Sturbelle

Prisoner of War

Vernon Dobtcheff

Lawyer

Jacques Ciron

State Attorney

Simon McBurney

Brigadier

Patrick Floersheim

Police Inspector

Caspar Salmon

Young Abel

Daniel Smith

Nestor

Ryan O'Leary

Clément

Ilja Smoljanski

Ephraim

Lars Albiez

Lothar

Claude Degen

Priest

Thierry Monfray

Teacher

Jacques Brunet

Principal at School

Sylvie Huguel

Martine's Mother

Erick Deshors

Hervé

Jérôme Keen

Abel's Client

Lyèce Boukhitine

Ahmed

Christine Paolini

Nestor's Mother

Maximilian Haas

Napola Boy

Robert Beyer

Napola Boy

Norman Daugs

Napola Boy

Joachim Paul Assböck

Messenger Officer

Bartosz Obuchowicz

Country Boy

Malgorzata Rozniatowska

Country Boy's Mother

Piotr Grabowski

German Soldier

Andrzej Szenajch

Old Naploa-Teacher

Lothar Pinnig

Naploa-Teacher

Norbert Rakowski

SS-Mann

Ilja Zmiejew

Russian Officer

Pierre-Benoist Varoclier

Child at the boarding school (uncredited)

Goofs

Prior to the school fire, a caption says "Paris 1925". Upon his arrest as an adult, Abel, through his narration, remembers the fire as having happened "twenty years ago". This would place his adult scenes in 1945, but when he joins the French army after his arrest it is before the German occupation of Paris which would place his arrest in 1940. However, Abel is slow-witted and possibly does not have an accurate sense of time.

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Quotes

Count von Kaltenborn: Mesmerizing ritual, songs and torches-- hard to resist. You are quite intoxicated by it, are you? The flames, the flags, it's a big show-- quite overwhelming, for a simple mind. Look at him. His father was a grocer in Leipzig. He stands there in his uniform as if he were selling sardines.

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Abel: [voiceover] Young boys are so bold and courageous. No living creatures are as noble or as beautiful-- and yet so heartbreakingly awkward. I love nothing like I love the young boys. What a privilege, to gather them all in a castle they can call their own! Mostly they trust me, but sometimes they don't. And then I can feel the part of me that is made of stone. Hard and pitiless, I force them to come with me.

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Prof. Blaettchen: Brightness is not a characteristic of the German race. We don't want brightness! People say, "Oh, so-and-so is so bright, he has such a clear mind!" No. We mistrust this brightness, this clarity. Let the new African races cultivate brightness. Our sources are in darkness. That is what drives us to unparalleled creativity.

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