A searing indictment of evil in Hitler's Germany Hendrik Hofgen is a man obsessed with becoming a famous actor When the Nazis come to power in Germany he willingly renounces his Communist past & deserts his wife & mistress in order to keep on performing His diabolical performance as Mephistopheles in Faust proves to be the stepping-stone he yearned for attracting the attention of Hermann Goering it wins Hofgen an appointment as head of the State Theatre The rewards
- the respect of the public a castle
- like villa a uplace in Berlin's highest circles
- are beyond his wildest dreams But the moral consequences of his betrayals begin to haunt him turning his dreamworld into a nightmare