Fritz Lang biopic shocks at Rome Film Fest

Gordian Maugg's film 'Fritz Lang', presented at the Festa del Cinema di Roma, provocatively suggests the director could have been the Monster of Düsseldorf. The biopic abandons historical fidelity to explore Lang's psyche, depicting his addiction to liquid cocaine, sex, and traumatic memories from WWI and his first wife Lisa's mysterious death. It centers on the creation of Lang's 1931 masterpiece 'M', his first sound film, which marked a shift from crowd spectacles like 'Metropolis' to intimate character study. Maugg stages Lang's hallucinations alongside scenes from 'M', including a fictional prison conversation with serial killer Peter Kürten, where both discuss paternal abuse. The film prioritizes cinematic fantasy over factual biography, aiming to evoke the ghostly dimension of silent cinema. Mariagrazia Pontorno reports for Artribune.