Film Review

 FILM REVIEW : THE TOBACCONIST  

            {Promoted in Russia as 'My Friend Sigmund Freud or Мой Друг Зигмунд

            Фрейд}

            Austria/Germany 2018 Directed by Nicholas Leytmer

            Based on the bestselling novel 'The Tobacconist' by

            Robert Seethaler

By Stephen Wilson

           "If I were you would go home young man. Here you will have nothing but

            troubles" warns an old beggar when the naive young hero arrives at

            the railway station in Vienna to take up work in a tobacco shop in the

            late 1930's. How right the wise woman is ! The impressionable ,innocent

            and inept young Franz, stumbles from one fiasco to another as he becomes

            infatuated by a charismatic dancer Aneshka, played by Emma Drugunova

            and asks advice from one of the tobacconist's customers who happens

            to be the famous father of Psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud, played by

            Bruno Ganz. But since Franz's boss happens to be an Austrian Jew,  

            against the background of the rise of the Nazis, the shop comes under

            constant harassment and assault from Nazis thugs. Poor Franz has

            just found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. We witness

            a dramatic confrontation between the tobacconist ,{played by Johannes

            Krish} , his assistant, and the Nazis. The tobacconist, a war veteran who

            has lost his leg , fights to maintain his dignity against neighbors who envy

            his success as a businessman.

            The film 'The Tobacconist ' has a brilliant cast, the acting is superb, and

            the shooting of pre-war Vienna is  convincing and at times stunning.

            The film poignantly captures the tense atmosphere of prewar Vienna

            where people are so desperate they'll do anything to get by. The dialogue

            can also be very witty and thought provoking. Austria at this time was

            witnessing daily terrorist bombings of at times 40 a day, as well as

            attempted political coups against a background of 37% unemployment

            in 1938. Few felt safe in such volatile times.

            The basic plot of the film is that Franz is sent by his mother to work for

            the tobacconist after her lover is struck dead by lightning while swimming

            in a lake. The tobacconist is an old ex-lover. The tobacconist is a friendly,

            generous and kind man who takes Franz under his wing and shows him

            the tricks of the trade. He tells Franz "We don't just sell cigars but desires

            and wishes ".In other words, for many people a cigar is not simply a cigar

            but a symbol of status, prestige or a means to think better. When one frail

            and vulnerable customer enters the shop then leaves the tobacconist informs

            Franz "That is one of our most famous customers Sigmund Freud. You have

            no doubt heard of him. He fixes people's minds. " Since Freud has forgotten

            to take his cigars Franz runs out to hand them to him. At that moment a

            friendship is struck up . From then on Franz is constantly asking for advice

            on how to woo and win the love of a girl he adores. Freud's first piece of

            advice is " Go out and get a girl friend " to which Franz wisely answers " That

            is easier said than done". For Franz runs out of money on his first date and

            is alarmed to see his girl do a disappearing date. Franz manages to find the

            work location of the girl only to be shocked into discovering she is performing

            in some semi-pornographic cabaret. When he scolds her for this she retorts

           "We all have to make a living somehow". To make matters worse, the Nazis

            are breaking the windows of the shop, dubbing racist slogans and throwing

            dead animals into the shop. Tension amounts as to 'Will the Tobacconist and

            his assistant survive and can Franz win the girl of his dreams?'

            Freud advises Franz to keep a dream diary where he is to write down his

            dreams. The film depicts many of those dream scenes . In one scene a

            naked Freud and Franz is in a rowing boat which is sinking. Franz is trying

            to save Freud by getting rid of the water. Freud says "Don't worry about  

            me. Think about Love " .

            It is worth noting that Freud is played by the late Bruno Ganz. This must

            have been one of his last roles. He recently died of cancer this year. It is

            interesting to observe that he was playing the role of a person , Freud, who

            was also dying of cancer. Ganz was a legendary actor. He played the part

            in Wim Wender's film "Angels over Berlin" {1987} as well as Hitler in the

            film 'Downfall'. Ganz makes a great job in portraying the frail , vulnerable

            and humane side of Freud. Freud tells Franz that "Women are like cigars.

            Pull at them too hard and you lose the pleasure of them ".

            Freud did not just adore cigars but was hopelessly addicted to them. At

            times he could smoke a maximum of twenty a day. He never completely

            gave them up even after being diagnosed with cancer. He would squeeze

            a cigar into his frozen jaw by using a coat peg. Freud argued that smoking

            cigars gave him the peace of mind and concentration to write his works

            more effectively. Smoking them helped him to be more creative. A story  

            goes that when his nephew refused his offer of a cigarette Freud scolded

            him with the words " My boy, smoking is one of the greatest and cheapest

            enjoyments in life , and if you decide in advance not to smoke, I can only

            feel sorry for you . "

            Whether Ganz could ever equal Freud by emulating the frightening stare

            he shot at people is debatable. Although Freud at 81 looked very brittle

            weak and old, his eyes still remained potent. When he looked at you he

            could look through you in a terrifying way. The Nazis once plundered his

            house while he was away. They stole his money and some possessions.

            But when Freud came home and saw them he shot them an angry awesome

            look. It terrified them. They ran off in panic ! As Mark Edmundson writes

           'His eyes, as almost everyone who knew him during those days attested,

            remained potent: at times, Freud did not stare at things , so much as

            through them to the other side. Overall , his presence was unnerving :

            by 1938, deep into old age , Freud looked like a dark fairy tale version

            of Death himself '{ page 10,The Death of Sigmund Freud, Fascism,

            psychoanalysis and the Rise of Fundamentalism, Mark Edmundson,

            Bloomsbury, London, 2007} . We don't see this side of Freud in the

            film but his more caring and compassionate side. Perhaps this is just

            as well because Freud has recently received enough hostility from  

            Critics.

            The film shows a scene where Freud leaves Vienna for London at the

            train station. But most Jews in the late 1930's could not escape. Around

            the time of the Anschluss many Jews were being attacked , assaulted

            and hounded by racists. They were being forced out on to the streets

            to clean pavements with toothbrushes while people humiliated ,jeered

            and beat them. Escaping from Austria was very complex. You faced  

            endless red tape. Not only did an Austrian Jew need stamped documents

            from Austrian officials but proper visas from Foreign embassies. All this

            cost much money which was way beyond the meager income of most of

            them. When thousands of Austrian Jews boarded a train for Prague they

            were turned away from the border. Many returned to face concentration

            camps and detention. The wiser ones crossed the border illegally.

            Freud only managed to obtain refuge in England because he had many

            influential contacts such as a Princess , as well as the American government.

            But Freud's friends  could not save all his sisters.

            The film reminds us that  the attitude to fleeing refugees in the 1930's was

            not any better than at this current period of time. Many Jews perished in the

            Holocaust partly because of harsh immigration officials who refused to allow

            refugees asylum in their countries. Britain and the Republic of Ireland refused

            many applications for asylum. Not seeing any way out, many Austrian Jews

            committed suicide. In some disturbing scenes we see people throwing themselves

            off the roof.

            The Tobacconist is worth watching although it is at times a harrowing film. When

            i watched this film in a Russian cinema I noticed that the censors had dubbed out

            the swastikas on the German flags hanging out of the Austrian state buildings. The

            measure must have been taken to avoid being punished for inadvertently breaking

            strict anti-Nazis propaganda laws in Russia. Yet the film The Tobacconist is an

            explicit anti-Fascist film as well as artistic work.