A German theater actor gains unexpected success with his performance in Faust. Meanwhile, in World War II Germany, the Nazis come to power and the country is in turmoil in terms of theater, just like everything else. The theater actor, whose friends are killed one by one or flee the country, realizes that he has performed very well against the Nazis and enters into an inner reckoning. The film won the screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival and the foreign film award at the Academy Awards.