Stiller

During a train journey through Switzerland, the American James Larkin White (Albrecht Schuch) is arrested at the border. The accusation: he is the sculptor Anatol Stiller (Sven Schelker), who disappeared seven years earlier and is wanted for his involvement in a dubious political affair. White denies the charge and insists he is not Stiller. To expose him, the prosecutor calls on Stiller’s wife Julika (Paula Beer) for help. But she too is unable to identify him with certainty, though memories gradually reveal more and more of the couple’s relationship. Even the prosecutor (Max Simonischek) has a surprising connection to the missing man. What exactly happened back then, and who is Stiller really?

Max Frisch’s novel Stiller was published in 1954 by Suhrkamp Verlag, has since sold millions of copies, and has been translated into 34 languages. Stiller marked Max Frisch’s breakthrough as a novelist.