Anthony Perkins is Josef K., an ordinary man who works in an office of some sort. One morning, he wakes up to find strange men in his bedroom. They ask questions and give no answers. They have been in the room of Jeanne Moreau, the nightclub performer who has the room next to his in the boarding house. Is it her they are investigating? Are they even from the police? It seems they are, since they tell him he is under arrest. They won't tell him the charge, and tell him he doesn't need to go to prison or leave his job - yet.
He goes to work, then to the theater, but he is taken away by the strange men. He is taken to what seems to be a tribunal, and makes a fine speech, but nothing changes. He still doesn't know what he is charged with. He goes to the best advocate around - Orson Welles. Welles holds court in bed in a delapidated mansion, with a beautiful nurse or secretary, Romy Schneider. I haven't read the original Kafka: Does Josef K. get it on with her in the book?
So Perkins goes from one frustrating situation to another. He meets with William Chappell, an artist with influence in government, and pleads with him while children peek through chinks in the walls, maybe hoping to see him pose nude? He even goes to a priest. Where does it end?
It ends as it began, with Orson Welles narrating a sort of fable on justice, accompanying animation on pin boards. This is an esoteric technique that, unfortunately, looks just like an ink sketch to me.
Great use of atmosphere, some nice acting, and a real oddball story. It made me want to watch Kafka again, which takes the surrealism to the next level.
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