Maureen Corrigan

In Kelman's reimagining, Goebbels cunningly wields a stick and a carrot. He alternates the accusation that Pabst was a communist who belongs in a concentration camp with appeals to Pabst's ego, bruised by Hollywood's treatment of him as a highbrow hack.

In Germany, Goebbels promises, Pabst will make artistic films, sublime films, films that touch the German hearts of good, deep, metaphysical people to oppose the American cheap commercial trash with a resounding no. It's an offer Pabst feels he can't refuse. As a novel, the director itself joins the pleasures of commercial fiction with the moral weight of a novel of ideas.

In Germany, Goebbels promises, Pabst will make artistic films, sublime films, films that touch the German hearts of good, deep, metaphysical people to oppose the American cheap commercial trash with a resounding no. It's an offer Pabst feels he can't refuse. As a novel, the director itself joins the pleasures of commercial fiction with the moral weight of a novel of ideas.

In Germany, Goebbels promises, Pabst will make artistic films, sublime films, films that touch the German hearts of good, deep, metaphysical people to oppose the American cheap commercial trash with a resounding no. It's an offer Pabst feels he can't refuse. As a novel, the director itself joins the pleasures of commercial fiction with the moral weight of a novel of ideas.

Kelman clearly has fun vividly invoking a sun-splashed Hollywood party where Billy Wilder cavorts in a cowboy hat and studio execs casually confuse the émigré filmmakers with one another. But comedy turns sinister and surreal in later sections, where Pabst and his family return to their castle in Germany, where the caretaker, now the local Nazi party leader, relegates them to the basement.

Kelman clearly has fun vividly invoking a sun-splashed Hollywood party where Billy Wilder cavorts in a cowboy hat and studio execs casually confuse the émigré filmmakers with one another. But comedy turns sinister and surreal in later sections, where Pabst and his family return to their castle in Germany, where the caretaker, now the local Nazi party leader, relegates them to the basement.

Kelman clearly has fun vividly invoking a sun-splashed Hollywood party where Billy Wilder cavorts in a cowboy hat and studio execs casually confuse the émigré filmmakers with one another. But comedy turns sinister and surreal in later sections, where Pabst and his family return to their castle in Germany, where the caretaker, now the local Nazi party leader, relegates them to the basement.

And then there's the absurdist scene where Pabst directs close Hitler confidant Leni Reifenstahl in an imagined film. As the extras, shipped in from a nearby detention camp, look on, Reifenstahl insists that Pabst retake the scene some 21 times. Each time, Reifenstahl's performance is terrible.

And then there's the absurdist scene where Pabst directs close Hitler confidant Leni Reifenstahl in an imagined film. As the extras, shipped in from a nearby detention camp, look on, Reifenstahl insists that Pabst retake the scene some 21 times. Each time, Reifenstahl's performance is terrible.

And then there's the absurdist scene where Pabst directs close Hitler confidant Leni Reifenstahl in an imagined film. As the extras, shipped in from a nearby detention camp, look on, Reifenstahl insists that Pabst retake the scene some 21 times. Each time, Reifenstahl's performance is terrible.

But Pabst quickly catches on that it's dangerous to tell her anything but, it's perfect, just perfect again. Perhaps Kelman's greatest accomplishment is that he manages to raise larger themes through compact dialogues. Here, for instance, is a conversation about art and morality that he conjures up between Pabst and his wife, Trudy, who was an actress and writer.

But Pabst quickly catches on that it's dangerous to tell her anything but, it's perfect, just perfect again. Perhaps Kelman's greatest accomplishment is that he manages to raise larger themes through compact dialogues. Here, for instance, is a conversation about art and morality that he conjures up between Pabst and his wife, Trudy, who was an actress and writer.

But Pabst quickly catches on that it's dangerous to tell her anything but, it's perfect, just perfect again. Perhaps Kelman's greatest accomplishment is that he manages to raise larger themes through compact dialogues. Here, for instance, is a conversation about art and morality that he conjures up between Pabst and his wife, Trudy, who was an actress and writer.

All this will pass, Pabst tells Trudy, but art remains. Even if it remains, Trudy asks, the art, doesn't it remain soiled? Doesn't it remain bloody and dirty? Pabst responds this way. And the Renaissance? What about the Borgias and their poisonings? What about Shakespeare, who had to make accommodations with Elizabeth?

All this will pass, Pabst tells Trudy, but art remains. Even if it remains, Trudy asks, the art, doesn't it remain soiled? Doesn't it remain bloody and dirty? Pabst responds this way. And the Renaissance? What about the Borgias and their poisonings? What about Shakespeare, who had to make accommodations with Elizabeth?

All this will pass, Pabst tells Trudy, but art remains. Even if it remains, Trudy asks, the art, doesn't it remain soiled? Doesn't it remain bloody and dirty? Pabst responds this way. And the Renaissance? What about the Borgias and their poisonings? What about Shakespeare, who had to make accommodations with Elizabeth?

He adds, the important thing is to make art under the circumstances one finds oneself in. Referencing his film Paracelsus, Papps says, Paracelsus will still be watched 50 years from now when this nightmare is long forgotten. When do compromises turn into full-blown capitulation? How many accommodations can someone make with evil before they themselves become part of the evil?

He adds, the important thing is to make art under the circumstances one finds oneself in. Referencing his film Paracelsus, Papps says, Paracelsus will still be watched 50 years from now when this nightmare is long forgotten. When do compromises turn into full-blown capitulation? How many accommodations can someone make with evil before they themselves become part of the evil?

He adds, the important thing is to make art under the circumstances one finds oneself in. Referencing his film Paracelsus, Papps says, Paracelsus will still be watched 50 years from now when this nightmare is long forgotten. When do compromises turn into full-blown capitulation? How many accommodations can someone make with evil before they themselves become part of the evil?

Do we forget nightmares, or is history just the reliving of them over and over again? The director doesn't answer these questions, cannot answer them, but it leaves them rattling around in our minds like a roulette wheel that never stops spinning.