Fatherland (2026 film)

Development

Director Paweł Pawlikowski (left) co-wrote the screenplay with Hendrik Handloegten (right).

Director Paweł Pawlikowski was sent The Magician, Colm Tóibín's biographical novel about Thomas Mann, by Mario Gianani [it] and Lorenzo Mieli of Our Films, but he turned down the opportunity to adapt the book into a film. Instead, inspired by one particular episode — Mann's return to Germany in 1949 — he proceeded to re-imagine the event, co-writing the screenplay with Hendrik Handloegten.^[3] Pawlikowski later noted the film as "the quickest thing that [he] ever developed".^[4]

The film marks the first project under a three-year co-production, financing, and distribution agreement between Mubi and Our Films.^[5][6] In June 2025, Arte France Cinéma was announced as a co-producer of the film.^[7] Canal+ Poland also served as a co-producer.^[8]

In February 2025, the film was awarded a grant of €200,000 by the Hessen Film Fund [de].^[9] Later that year, it was awarded a grant of €1.42 million by the Polish Film Institute and €150,000 from Eurimages.^[10][11] It also received funding from the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, and the Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung [de].^[2][12]

Casting

Sandra Hüller, Hanns Zischler, August Diehl, Anna Madeley, Devid Striesow, and Theo Trebs were announced as cast members on 19 August 2025.^[13][14][15] In November 2025, Joanna Kulig announced that she had taken part in the film, marking her fourth collaboration with Pawlikowski.^[16]

Filming

The film was shot primarily in Poland. Filming locations included Legnica (top), Bielsko-Biała (middle), and the Church of the Saviour [pl] in Wałbrzych (bottom).

Łukasz Żal served as the film's cinematographer, having previously shot Pawlikowski's films Ida (2013) and Cold War (2018).^[17][18] Like Ida and Cold War, the film was shot in black-and-white.^[17][19] It was also shot mostly chronologically, as producer Ewa Puszczyńska stated that "it was very important [for the] cast to get into the performance, into the journey, into the trip."^[2]

Although the film is set in Germany, the production team opted to film primarily in Poland due to budget constraints. As Pawlikowski prefers not to film on stages, he scouted locations extensively throughout the country, and sets were built to match the surrounding areas. Puszczyńska stated, "There was no location which [was just] getting in and shooting. We were building the set on the street to match the existing buildings."^[2]

Principal photography began in the Kartuzy [pl] district of Legnica on 13 August 2025.^[20] Later that month, filming moved to Bielsko-Biała and Cieszyn.^{[21][22][23][24]} In early September, filming briefly took place in Warsaw before returning to Legnica.^{[25][26][27][28]} On 30 September, filming took place in Weimar, specifically at the Deutsches Nationaltheater und Staatskapelle Weimar and Goethes Gartenhaus [de] in Park an der Ilm.^[29][30] In early October, filming began at the Feature Film Studio [pl] in Wrocław.^[19][31][32] Later that month, filming took place at the Church of the Saviour [pl] in Wałbrzych.^[33][34] Filming locations also included Pieńsk, Goszcz, Bielawa, and Kliczków Castle.^[35] Filming was completed by mid-December 2025, after 38 days of shooting.^[36]

To recreate the Thomas Mann House, production designers Marcel Sławiński and Katarzyna Sobańska [pl] visited the site itself and studied blueprints, photos, and video footage of the home.^[35] Furniture and props were sourced from Germany for authenticity. Pawlikowski also wanted the villa to be filled with books and art to emphasize "the quintessence of [Mann's] world: culture, literature, music."^[31][32]

Costume designer Aleksandra Staszko [pl], who had worked with Pawlikowski on Ida and Cold War, recreated 1940s fashion for the film, which required her to emphasize the style differences between West and East Germany, as well as the United States. While the costumes for the main characters were custom-made, costumes for extras were sourced from warehouses in Berlin, Łódź, and Warsaw.^[31][32]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 95% of 38 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.0/10.^[49] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 90 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".^[50]

In his five-star review, Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian deemed the film "an impossibly elegant, poised historical vignette".^[51] Kevin Maher of The Times also gave the film a five-star rating, describing it as "small but perfectly formed and packed with more ideas and infused with more heartbreak than most overlong arthouse epics".^[52] Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph gave the film a rating of four stars out of five, calling it "sharp, exacting, trenchant, and fascinating". He specifically commended Pawlikowski's craftsmanship and Żal's cinematography as "impeccable".^[53]

Giving the film a B-grade, Ryan Lattanzio of IndieWire wrote, "What exactly the endgame of this road trip is doesn't quite crystallize onscreen, leaving gaps and missing bookends that might encourage you to brush up on your European postwar history."^[54] Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com echoed this sentiment, noting, "There are no easy answers in Fatherland, which makes it a bit less satisfying narratively, but I think also means it will have the freedom to bounce around in the minds of viewers more than a film concerned with tighter conclusions."^[55]

Critics praised the cast's performances, including Leslie Felperin of The Hollywood Reporter, who believed Hüller and Zischler's roles were "immaculately performed", and Owen Gleiberman of Variety, who deemed them "pitch-perfect".^[56][1] Critics also praised the film's artistic direction, with Stephanie Bunbury of Deadline calling the film "a masterclass in artistic discipline" and Marc van de Klashorst of the International Cinephile Society writing that "[Pawlikowski's] compositional work is nothing short of brilliant, especially in the crisp imagery created by his regular cinematographer Łukasz Żal".^[57][58]

Accolades