Sophisticated Acquaintance (2007): cast, story & where to watch

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 The Shawshank Redemption, The Godfather, Schindler's List and The Godfather Part II.