In cinema 11/8/2025

The Disappearance of Josef Mengele

Das Verschwinden des Josef Mengele

MS12

Genre

Biography, Historical drama

Director

Kirill Serebrennikov

Run time

2h 15min

Cast

August Diehl, Dana Herfurth, Friederike Becht

Select show
29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (07.11-23.11.2025)

A stylishly executed espionage thriller, this is the most commercially appealing film yet from the auteur filmmaker.

Josef Mengele was the physician and SS officer whose horrific experiments on prisoners at Auschwitz earned him the sobriquet ‘Angel of Death’.

Based on the novel by Olivier Guez “The Disappearance of Josef Mengele” displays the brio and ambition characteristic of director Kirill Serebrennikov, although the film is in a markedly different mode from previous stylised exercises; notably “Leto”, “Tchaikovsky’s Wife” and last year’s freewheeling biopic “Limonov”. “Disappearance” revolves around an imposing lead – sometimes subtle, sometimes a touch barnstorming – by a largely unrecognisable August Diehl.

Jonathan Romney, Screen Daily

Genre

Biography, Historical drama

Director

Kirill Serebrennikov

Run time

2h 15min

Cast

August Diehl, Dana Herfurth, Friederike Becht

29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (07.11-23.11.2025)

A stylishly executed espionage thriller, this is the most commercially appealing film yet from the auteur filmmaker.

Josef Mengele was the physician and SS officer whose horrific experiments on prisoners at Auschwitz earned him the sobriquet ‘Angel of Death’.

Based on the novel by Olivier Guez “The Disappearance of Josef Mengele” displays the brio and ambition characteristic of director Kirill Serebrennikov, although the film is in a markedly different mode from previous stylised exercises; notably “Leto”, “Tchaikovsky’s Wife” and last year’s freewheeling biopic “Limonov”. “Disappearance” revolves around an imposing lead – sometimes subtle, sometimes a touch barnstorming – by a largely unrecognisable August Diehl.

Jonathan Romney, Screen Daily

Shows

Date
PÖFF 29

Artis

Saal 1

Buy ticket

Free seats

181

Date

Format

2D

Subtitles

Estonian

Info

Rating

Under 12 Not Recommended

Production year

2025

Global distributor

Kinology

Local distributor

Estofilm

In cinema

11/8/2025