Kafka (1991) on Netflix
PG-1319911h 38mDramaMysterySci-Fi
Franz Kafka works at a Prague insurance office and writes on the side. A colleague's murder draws him toward an underground group that bombs the town.
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- Netflix2.7/5
- IMDb6.8/1011,212 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes55%
Trailer
Plot summary
In Prague in 1919, Franz Kafka earns his living as an insurance adjuster and writes in his spare time. After Eduard Rabin, a colleague at the office, is murdered, he is drawn into an underground group that has carried out bombings all over the town. The group is trying to thwart a secret organization that decides the major events of society.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Kafka (1991)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Isabelle Adjani and Anne Parillaud were both considered for the role of Gabriela Rossman; Parillaud was actually cast and filmed several days with Jeremy Irons and director Steven Soderbergh before she left the production over language barriers.
- Lem Dobbs wrote Kafka as a straightforward biopic of Franz Kafka, but Steven Soderbergh rewrote it into a "mystery thriller, not a biography"; Dobbs was so unhappy with the changes that the two did not work together again until The Limey in 1999.
- Steven Soderbergh said the rights to Kafka had reverted to him and executive producer Paul Rassam, and that he and writer Lem Dobbs began a "completely different" version, with new inserts shot during Side Effects and the film dubbed into German. Titled Mr. Kneff, it premiered at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival.
- Director Steven Soderbergh elected to shoot most of Kafka in black-and-white to evoke German expressionism, filming on location in Kafka's hometown of Prague and at Barrandov Studios.
