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Franz

Play trailer 2:00 Poster for Franz Now Playing 2h 7m Drama Biography Play Trailer Watchlist
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73% Tomatometer 56 Reviews Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
Award-winning director Agnieszka Holland is embarking on her most ambitious project to date, a biopic of the iconic 20th-century Czech writer Franz Kafka. Conceived as a kaleidoscopic mosaic, the film will follow the imprint Kafka left on the world from his birth in 19th-century Prague to his death in post-WW1 Vienna. FRANZ will give the audience a brand new perspective on the life of the man behind the literary giant.
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Franz

Critics Reviews

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Alonso Duralde Press Play (KCRW) 3d
This is how you do a biopic. Go to Full Review
Kyle Smith Wall Street Journal 4d
All such explanations risk being superficial. But Ms. Holland doesn’t push them. Better are her more oblique turns -- realistic scenes with strange underpinnings. Go to Full Review
Thelma Adams AARP Movies for Grownups 4d
5/5
With magnetic Idan Weiss in the lead, Franz succeeds in creating a portrait of one of the greatest, most original European authors of the 20th century. Go to Full Review
Neely Swanson Beverly Hills Courier 7h
Idan Weiss was the perfect Franz Kafka, both in appearance, he’s actually a dead ringer, and ambivalent narcissism. He holds the center beautifully and brings the audience along with him in his existential journey. Go to Full Review
Jaylan Salah Cinefied 1d
Franz does more than the chronological listing of a thinker’s life, highlighting his accomplishments and the obstacles he has faced. It’s a dark portal into a time eerily similar, and a mind tragically brilliant. Go to Full Review
Fiona Underhill MovieJawn 1d
As someone who loves both Kafka and Holland’s work, I consider us incredibly fortunate to have been gifted this meeting of director and subject. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Audrey D @RT84150357 4d A really inventive and fresh take on a biopic from a legendary director... Kafka is a fascinating writer and subject See more yesica fernanda P @gondorcinema Aug 18 *Franz*, dirigida por Agnieszka Holland, esquiva el biopic tradicional sobre Kafka para ofrecer una propuesta artística y experimental. En lugar de un repaso cronológico, invita a recorrer la mente del escritor como si atravesáramos un "museo viviente" donde cada sala cobra vida. La película transita de forma no lineal desde su infancia en Praga hasta sus últimos años. Holland rompe las reglas: personajes que miran a cámara, simbolismos surrealistas y música contemporánea de la banda Trupa Trupa, conectando el pensamiento de Kafka con el presente. Aunque abarca tantos aspectos —romances, familia, contexto político— que algunos momentos quedan apenas esbozados, este retrato fragmentado prioriza la emoción y la evocación por encima del dato histórico. Propone un lenguaje poético propio. No busca explicarlo, sino acercarnos a su esencia. Si buscas una biografía distinta que rompa el molde, esta propuesta imperfecta pero fascinante te va a encantar. See more Runa R @runa.r Jul 25 It's interesting to see an actor in the lead role who bears such a resemblance to Kafka himself. The film is particularly interesting in the way it combines Kafka’s life with stories from his books, while moving back and forth between the past and the present. Seeing tourists visiting his house and the places he used to frequent, now as tourist attractions, is an unusual and effective way of presenting a biography. The film does not explore Kafka’s life in great depth; nevertheless, it gives us some insight into what his life was like. See more Catalina O @Catalina316 Jul 14 The movie, trying to say too many things doesn’t say anything. I only appreciate the effort to cultivate the need to read and re-read Kafka so in the personal reading you might find something better. Kafka itself. See more Read all reviews
Franz

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Movie Info

Synopsis Award-winning director Agnieszka Holland is embarking on her most ambitious project to date, a biopic of the iconic 20th-century Czech writer Franz Kafka. Conceived as a kaleidoscopic mosaic, the film will follow the imprint Kafka left on the world from his birth in 19th-century Prague to his death in post-WW1 Vienna. FRANZ will give the audience a brand new perspective on the life of the man behind the literary giant.
Director
Agnieszka Holland
Producer
Sarka Cimbalova, Agnieszka Holland
Screenwriter
Agnieszka Holland, Marek Epstein
Distributor
Cohen Media Group
Production Co
Telewizja Polska (TVP), Ceská Televize, Metro Films, Canal+ Polska, Czech Anglo Productions, Bac Films, Barrandov Studio, X-Filme Creative Pool
Genre
Drama, Biography
Original Language
Czech
Release Date (Theaters)
Aug 21, 2026, Limited
Runtime
2h 7m
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