Home / Jakob the Liar

Jakob the Liar

Year:

1999

Duration:

120 min

Genres:

Comedy | Drama | War

IMDB rate:

6.5

Director:

Peter Kassovitz

Awards:

3 nominations

Details

Country: France

Release Date: 1999-09-24

Filming Locations: Budapest, Hungary

Earnings

Budget: $15,000,000

Opening Weekend: $2,056,647 (USA) (26 September 1999)

Gross: $4,956,401 (USA) (31 October 1999)

Cast

Actor

Character

Mathieu Kassovitz

Jakob the Liar

Robin Williams

Jakob

Hannah Taylor Gordon

Lina

Éva Igó

Lina's Mother

István Bálint

Lina's Father

Justus von Dohnányi

Preuss

Kathleen Gati

Hooker

Bob Balaban

Kowalsky

Alan Arkin

Frankfurter

Michael Jeter

Avron

Mark Margolis

Fajngold

János Gosztonyi

Samuel

Liev Schreiber

Mischa

Armin Mueller-Stahl

Kirschbaum

Ádám Rajhona

The Whistler

Antal Leisen

Peg-Leg

Péter Rudolf

Roman

Jan Becker

Young German

János Kulka

Nathan

Gregg Bello

Blumenthal

Nina Siemaszko

Rosa

Grazyna Barszczewska

Mrs. Frankfurter

Judit Sagi

Mrs. Avron

Ilona Psota

Grandmother

Ági Margitai

Miss Esther

Iván Darvas

Hardtloff

László Borbély

Doctor

Zoltan Barabas

Meyer

Miroslaw Zbrojewicz

SS Officer 1

Józef Mika

Soldier

György Szkladányi

SS Officer 2

Zofia Saretok

Neighbor

Michael Mehlmann

Escaping Man

Mirtill Micheller

Lady Singer

Orsolya Pflum

Lady Singer

Beatrix Bisztricsan

Lady Singer

Adolf Hitler

Himself - 'Behind Us Comes Germany' Speech (archive sound) (uncredited)

Anna Nowak

Maria

Did you know?

Trivia

In order to be consistent with Nordic/Germanic pronunciations, Jakob's name would actually be pronounced "YAH-kopp". However, with Jakob being a Polish Jew, it's far more likely his name would have the Polish/polonized form, 'Jakub' (pronounced "YAH-kupp").

Share this

Armin Mueller-Stahl, who plays Dr. Kirschbaum (the Professor) was also in Jacob the Liar (1975) (upon which the 1999 film is based) as Roman Stahm, the brother of the character who was shot.

Share this

Goofs

One of the supposed SS guards is wearing a field cap with the black-red-gold insignia of the modern German military, the Bundeswehr.

Share this

The German officer referred to as "Herr General" wears the insignia of an SS-Colonel.

Share this

The movie is set in Poland (hence the Polish-languaged signs on buildings, eg Jakob's café), but 'Mischa' is a Russian name (a diminutive form of 'Mikhail'/'Mikal' ('Michael').

Share this

Quotes

Jakob Heym: My name is Jakob Heym.

Share this

Jakob Heym: I don't want to see you playing with that cat. I certainly don't want to see you catch it and eat it. Any cat that lets itself get caught is sick.

Share this

Jakob Heym: But maybe it wasn't like that at all. Because you know, as Frankfurter says, "until the last line has been spoken, the curtain cannot come down".

Share this