The Disappearance of Josef Mengele

Premise

The film follows Nazi physician Josef Mengele in the years following the end of the Second World War, detailing his later life in Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil. The film explores his relationships with his second wife Martha and his estranged son Rolf as he justifies his actions at Auschwitz concentration camp.

Cast

August Diehl as Josef Mengele

Max Bretschneider as Rolf Mengele

David Ruland as Hans Sedlemeier

Dana Herfurth as Irene Schönbein, Josef's first wife

Friederike Becht as Martha Mengele, Josef's second wife

Mirco Kreibich as Alois Mengele

Burghart Klaussner as Karl Mengele

Károly Hajduk as Nyzli

Falk Rockstroh as Butler Falk

Annamária Láng as Gitta Stammer

Tilo Werner as Geza Stammer

Rodrigo Costa Pereyra as Roberto Stammer

Production

Development

In October 2022, it was announced that Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov was planning to make a film based on The Disappearance of Josef Mengele by Olivier Guez, with German actor August Diehl performing the role of Mengele. In 2023, the film was being produced by Charles Gillibert at CG Cinéma and Ilya Stewart at Hype Studios with Gillibert having brought the project to Stewart and the project in development for many years as Serebrennikov was under house arrest in Russia. Also on board the film were Kinology with Felix von Boem at Lupa Films, Arte France Cinéma, Mélanie Biessy with Scala Films, Forma Pro Films and Cimarron coproducing the film with Piano.

The cast includes Max Bretschneider, David Ruland, Dana Herfurth and Burghart Klaussner.

Filming

Principal photography took place in Uruguay and Latvia. It was reported by Variety that filming had been completed by December 2024.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the Cannes Premiere section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival on 20 May 2025.

Reception

Jordan Mintzer of The Hollywood Reporter described the film as a successful post-war thriller with fantastic direction and camerawork. Siddhant Adlakha for Variety, however, criticized the script as disjointed, needlessly jumping between time periods, losing its core themes in the process.

The decision to include an extended in-color flashback of Mengele employing torture and murder on prisoners at Auschwitz proved controversial. Some critics characterized the sequence as a brutal yet necessary segment for the viewers to understand Mengele's outlook later in life and how he viewed his past crimes. Others were more skeptical of its purpose in the film, characterizing it as an unnecessary showcase of violence that took away from the primary story. The scene's presentation in a home movie style also drew mixed reactions.