Widely considered to be Fassbinder's masterpiece, this adaptation of Nabokov's novel charts the descent into madness of wealthy chocolate factory owner Hermann Herman (Dirk Bogarde). In 1930s Berlin, Russian-born émigré Herman lives a luxurious but vapid life with his wife, Lydia (Andrea Ferreol), who is having an affair with Herman's painter brother, Ardalion (Volker Spengler). Racked with existential doubt & crippled by cynicism, Herman hatches an elaborate plot involving homeless man Felix Weber (Klaus Löwitsch) in an attempt to free himself of his mental tortures
- but only ends up driving himself to the brink of full-blown insanity.