Franz, a 17-year-old boy from rural Austria, comes to Vienna to get a job in a cigarette shop. Although tyranny under the Nazi occupation and hatred towards Jews has worsened oppression and insecurity, the tobacco store remains a small sanctuary for newspaper and cigarette seekers. In love with dancer Anezka, Franz gradually becomes a friend to Sigmund Freud, one of the most well-known psychoanalysts and a regular at the tobacco store. Otto, the tobacco shop owner with a clear political conscience, is taken away by the Nazis while Franz and Freud each stand at the crossroads of survival. Based on the Austrian writer Robert Seethaler′s novel of the same name, The Tobacconist shows the tragic development of a boy entering manhood on Vienna’s political stage under the Nazi regime. Freud’s position in the story brings a specific context that allows Franz′s change from boy to man to be viewed through the lens of dreams, reality, libido and death. It′s nice to see Bruno Ganz of Wings of Desire playing Freud. (Jin Park)