Sophisticated Acquaintance (2007): Besetzung, Handlung & Streaming

Released in 2007, Sophisticated Acquaintance is a drama film directed by Daniel Kremer, running about 75 minutes. “Klaus Mann had a short life...and a long death.” — that tagline sets the tone.

What it’s about. Mixing elements of narrative, experimental, pseudo-documentary and essayist cinema, Sophisticated Acquaintance tells the story of a tormented individual whose short life and long death were affected by a great many factors. Klaus Mann (John Gross), a present-day Philadelphia avatar of the real-life European author of Mephisto, lives in the shadow of his father, the eminent intellectual, novelist and Nobel Laureate Thomas Mann (Ernst Hohmann). When Klaus pens a controversial essay on "revolutionary suicide" and then acts on it, in protest of the world's selfishness, a group of his contemporaries speak up in filmed interviews about what led him down that path. It is a film about the creative process, the tragic depiction of a strained father-son relationship and, most of all, it is a film about individuality.

Who’s in it. Sophisticated Acquaintance stars John Gross as Klaus Mann and Rob Nilsson as Narrator.

How it landed. With an audience score of 8.0/10, Sophisticated Acquaintance sits among the best-reviewed titles in the catalogue.

Where to watch. Streaming options change often. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch Sophisticated Acquaintance page.

If you liked it. Fans of Sophisticated Acquaintance tend to enjoy Die Verurteilten, Der Pate, Schindlers Liste and Der Pate - Teil II.