In this period drama, a refugee surgeon in pre-war Paris plots revenge against the Nazi officer who tortured him.
Dr. Ravic (Anthony Hopkins), a gifted Austrian surgeon, lives illegally in Paris on the eve of the Second World War. A man without a country or proper papers, he exists in the city’s shadows, haunted by the memory of his torture at the hands of the Gestapo. His life of quiet desperation is interrupted by two encounters: first with the enigmatic Joan Madou (Lesley-Anne Down), whom he saves from a suicide attempt, and second with the brutish Gestapo officer Haake (Donald Pleasence), the very man who tormented him. As his relationship with Joan deepens, Ravic becomes consumed by a cold, meticulous plan to exact vengeance on Haake, all while the world around them slides inexorably towards war.
This television adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s 1945 novel is a study in fatalism, set within the precarious world of Paris’s refugee community. The production eschews grand spectacle for a focus on psychological tension and the atmosphere of impending doom. Director Waris Hussein constructs a Paris filled with displaced people, where every knock at the door could mean deportation or death. The narrative is anchored by Anthony Hopkins’ contained performance as Ravic: a man hollowed out by trauma but animated by the twin impulses of love and a clinical desire for revenge. His stillness is a powerful counterpoint to the city’s growing panic.
Broadcast: HTV, 19 December 1984
Written by: Charles Israel
From the novel by: Erich Maria Remarque
Director: Waris Hussein
Executive Producers: Patrick Dromgoole, Milton T. Raynor
Producers: Peter Graham Scott, John Newland, Mort Abrahams
Main Cast: Anthony Hopkins (Dr. Ravic), Lesley-Anne Down (Joan Madou), Donald Pleasence (Haake), Frank Finlay (Boris), Richard Pasco (Veber), Joyce Blair (Rolande)
