Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland‘s surrealist drama “Franz” portrays Franz Kafka, the Czech author, as a young man committed to his writing and his ideals, in spite of a dismissive father and the pressure to conform.

Kafka’s city, Prague at the close of the Belle Époque, comes to life via immaculate period fashion and set design. Kafka himself is made eerily plausible by German Israeli actor Idan Weiss, as are his family, friends and lovers, thanks to an inspiring cast of actors.

By turns, the film slips and jerks through time, space and Kafka’s imagination, as if compelled onward by some kaleidoscopic gizmo cooked up in one of Kafka’s own feverish works of fiction. Yet much like the man himself, this biopic remains rooted in “The Mother of Cities,” Prague, of which Kafka once wrote, “[She] never lets you go. This dear little mother has sharp claws.”

Here & Now‘s Rob Schmitz speaks with Holland about why she chose to largely bypass Kafka’s works in order to focus on Kafka, the human being.

This segment aired on August 21, 2026.