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 Goring it wins Hofgen an appointment as head of the State Theatre. The rewards
- the respect of the public a castle
- like villa a place 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.