TIFF 2025 Review: ‘Franz’ Isn’t a Very Kafkaesque Biopic

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Franz Kafka did not want to be remembered. The Czech writer of works so distinct that we turned his name into a descriptor for a whole subgenre of literature finished none of his full-length novels and burned around 90% of his writings. He received little critical fanfare during his lifetime and less attention for his death at the age of 40. We only know of his genius now because his friend and literary executor Max Brod defied Kafka’s desire for all of his work to be destroyed after his passing. One would imagine that he’d find the idea of someone making a film about him to be both needless and embarrassing. For Polish director Agnieszka Holland, it posed an intriguing narrative challenge.

Franz is not

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