Directed by Carlos Atanes

Screenplay by Joan Lluró and Gemma Delgado

Cast: Antonio Vladimir, Manuel Solàs, Arantxa Peña, José María Nunes, Anne Sofie Nilsson, Xavier Villena

Two years after finishing his film studies, Carlos Atanes, a great admirer of Franz Kafka, directed this adaptation with considerable creative freedom. He took the risky decision not to adhere too strictly to the text. He capitalized on the possibilities offered by the production (a magnificent set with a library of over 60,000 volumes). He added allusions to other works by Kafka (and Borges, and Piranesi...) and, above all, embellished the story with numerous references to the author's private and family life, especially to his father, Hermann Kafka, with whom Franz always maintained a complex relationship.

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This identification between the fictional family (the Samsas) and the real family (the Kafkas) also inspired a change in the temporal context: the story is set in Central Europe subjugated by National Socialism, a grotesque regime unknown to Franz Kafka, but which, years after his death, annihilated his family. Even the title participates in the double biographical/literary meaning: "The Metamorphosis of Franz Kafka" is Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" and, at the same time, Franz Kafka's metamorphosis. Logically, this highly unorthodox adaptation of such a revered text has provoked very polarized reactions, and Carlos Atanes continues to receive angry condemnations from the most purist Kafka scholars long after this short film was released online.

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ANALYSIS OF THIS FILM

 

Transforming the Metamorphosis - by Jennifer Makowsky

Kafka’s Metamorphosis Story vs. Movie - by Charlotte Tanyi

The Metamorphosis Decades Apart - by Ashley Edmonds

Short Film: Carlos Atanes’ The Metamorphosis - by Mike Everleth