This is a German-language biopic of Franz Kafka. It was directed by the esteemed Agnieszka Holland, an Oscar and BAFTA nominee whose career as a screenwriter and director dates back more than 50 years. Her projects have reached across much of Europe and even to North America, where she directed episodes of some of the greatest American TV shows (The Wire, House of Cards).
Actress Jenovefa Bokova plays the part of Milena Jesenská, Kafka’s translator and very infrequent lover. Although they worked together remotely for years, a time when they wrote each other almost daily, of matters both businesslike and romantic, their physical contact lasted only five days of their lifetimes. That limited duration made their time together precious and desperately passionate. Despite their fleeting physical contact, she meant so much to him that he left his diaries to her when he died.
About two decades after her time with Kafka, as a leader of the anti-Nazi resistance, she died in the Ravensbrück concentration camp. She wasn’t killed there, but died of natural causes with the end of the war in sight, an irony that seemed … well … Kafkaesque.
Holland, one of the most hated women in her native country. Deservedly.