Narcissus and Goldmund

Narcissus and Goldmund (Narziss und Goldmund, 2020) is Stefan Ruzowitzky's drama after Hermann Hesse's novel, free to watch online on iFILM. Two novices in a medieval German abbey, built from opposite stuff.

Narcissus turns inward — prayer, study, the quiet certainty of a man made for the cloister. Goldmund cannot sit still. Sent there by a father trying to atone for a runaway mother, the boy bolts into a plague-scarred countryside, where love affairs, woodcarving and brutal hunger teach him what the monastery never could. Jannis Niewöhner and Sabin Tambrea lead, with Emilia Schüle.

Hesse set reason against the senses, and the film keeps that argument honest, refusing to crown either the saint or the wanderer. The Austrian-German production looks the part, all rough timber and candle smoke. One for viewers who like slow, literary cinema about the roads not taken. Stream Narcissus and Goldmund (2020) online on iFILM.