NARCISSUS AND GOLDMUND

Austria

Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky

Cast: Jannis Niewöhner, Sabin Tambrea, Emilia Schüle

Genre: Drama

Running time: 120′

Language: German with English subtitles (2020)

In the dark Middle Ages, young, unruly Goldmund is sent to a monastery by his father to atone for the sins of his mother, who abandoned them. It is there that he meets Narcissus, a brilliant, scholarly novice, who is introverted and aloof. A unique and deep life-long friendship is born. Narcissus chooses to remain detached from the world in prayer and meditation. Goldmund, who is passionate, sensual and impulsive, runs away from the monastery to live a picaresque wanderer’s life, his amorous and artistic adventures leading him to discover the extremes of both ecstasy and pain. Several thrilling years pass, until one day these friends cross paths again…

Based on the bestseller by Nobel Literature Prize winning author Hermann Hesse, and directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky of the Academy Award-winning The Counterfeiters, this interpretation of an epic tale traverses the geography, history and morality of times long past, but whose echoes ring out loudly in the world of today.

‘Lavishly produced, star-studded event cinema’
Andreas Köhnemann

‘About an improbable friendship, with the dichotomy between the spiritual and the worldly, the passionate art and the ascetic faith at its centre’
Amira Ben Saoud, Der Standard

Film adaptation of the classic tale by Hermann Hesse from a fresh, uncut perspective’ 
Bianka Piringe, Spielfilm