| Director | Paul Schrader |
|---|---|
| Budget | $10 million |
The film, part of which is told through a series of flashbacks, follows the story of Adam Stein, a charismatic patient of a fictitious psychiatric asylum for Holocaust survivors in Israel, in 1961. Adam was a comedian in Berlin prior to the Second World War, during which he was sent to a concentration camp. Adam managed to survive the war only because his pre-war act was recalled by an SS officer, who took Adam as his "pet," forcing him to act like a dog (as he did during one of his sketches). His humiliation was his ticket to survival, as he was even forced to play the fiddle as his wife and daughter were led to the gas chambers. Outwardly charming and witty, Adam is tormented by survivor's guilt and delusions that he is a dog.