Hanussen is a 1988 Hungarian film about Erik Jan Hanussen by István Szabó. It was nominated for the 1988 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The German language film starred Klaus Maria Brandauer. The film was entered into the 1988 Cannes Film Festival.
Plot
Austrian Klaus Schneider, who later comes to be known as Erik Jan Hanussen is wounded during World War I. While recovering in the care of Dr. Emil Bettelheim (Erland Josephson), the Doctor discovers that Schneider possesses empathic powers. After the war, with one friend as his manager and another as his lover, Schneider changes his name and goes to Berlin to perform in halls and theaters as a hypnotist and mind reader. His purported powers bring him to the attention of the Nazis which cause his fame and power – as well as his own troubles – to grow.
Cast
Klaus Maria Brandauer – Klaus Schneider / Erik Jan Hanussen
Erland Josephson – Dr. Bettelheim
Ildikó Bánsági – Sister Betty
Walter Schmidinger – Propaganda chief
Károly Eperjes – Captain Tibor Nowotny
Grażyna Szapołowska – Valery de la Meer
Colette Pilz-Warren – Dagma
Adrianna Biedrzyńska – Wally
György Cserhalmi – Count Trantow-Waldbach
Michał Bajor
Jiří Adamíra
Róbert Rátonyi
Kalina Jędrusik – Baroness Stadler
Gabriela Kownacka – Propaganda chief's wife
Ewa Błaszczyk – Henni Stahl
Awards
See also
List of submissions to the 61st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
List of Hungarian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film