Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. How did the novel’s framing device, which opens with the elderly and unreliable narrator Franz Wilzek, affect your reading experience from the start? Did you trust his version of events, and how did your perspective on him shift as the story unfolded?

2. Daniel Kehlmann is known for blending history and fiction in books like Tyll (2017). How effective did you find this blend in The Director? Did knowing that G. W. Pabst was a real person with a real, controversial career change how you engaged with his story and the moral questions it raises?

3. After finishing the book, what do you feel is the central story being told? Is it primarily a novel about the cost of artistic ambition, the unreliability of memory, or the nature of complicity during wartime?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. Pabst justifies his collaboration with the Nazi regime by focusing on his intense ambition to create great art. Have you ever felt a passion for a goal so strongly that it made you overlook or rationalize questionable choices along the way?

2. Trude Pabst finds herself trapped in a world she despises, forced to socialize with the wives of Nazi officials to survive. Think about a time you had to conform to a social situation that felt deeply uncomfortable or went against your values. What strategies did you use to get through it?

3. The community of exiles in Paris tries to warn Pabst about the danger of returning to the Reich, but he dismisses their concerns out of pride and a sense of duty to his mother. Have you ever been in a situation where you ignored the good advice of friends or a community?

4. Pabst leaves the safety of the United States to return to Europe because he isn’t “ready to forget who [he is]” and start his life and career over from scratch (80). Would you be able to start fresh in a new country where you didn’t speak the language? What challenges would you face?

5. Franz Wilzek’s decision to hide the recovered film from Pabst is a quiet betrayal of his mentor born from inaction. Can you think of a situation where a small act of omission or silence had enormous consequences? What makes these quiet failures of character or acts of rebellion so powerful?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. The Director explores how a totalitarian regime co-opts art for propaganda, turning film into a tool for indoctrination. Where do you see art and media being used today to shape political narratives or public opinion, and how has this changed in the digital age?

2. The character Jerzabek transforms from a simple caretaker into a petty tyrant once he is given a small amount of power by the Nazi party. What does his character reveal about how authoritarian systems can empower and reward the worst aspects of human nature?

3. The novel’s postwar setting depicts a disorienting world where former Nazis and the survivors of their atrocities work side by side. What does the book suggest about the complexities a society faces when trying to rebuild after a collective moral catastrophe and confront a difficult past?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. The novel’s original German title is Lichtspiel, meaning “play of light.” How does the recurring motif of light and shadow function throughout the story, reflecting both the technical world of filmmaking and the moral darkness of the characters’ choices?

2. Why do you think Kehlmann chose to structure the narrative by using Franz Wilzek’s fragmented present to frame a more linear telling of Pabst’s past? How does this unreliable frame shape your interpretation of Pabst’s journey and the theme of memory?

3. The novel’s final twist reveals that Wilzek had possession of The Molander Case for decades. How did this revelation change your perception of Pabst’s story, Wilzek’s character, and the novel’s ultimate message about art and guilt?

4. How does the novel use physical spaces, like the glamorous Hollywood poolside, the grim Dreiturm Castle, and the claustrophobic Hermann’s Cave, to reflect the characters’ psychological states?

5. The meeting between Pabst and Minister Goebbels is depicted in a surreal, almost hallucinatory style. What is the effect of this expressionistic technique in conveying the psychological horror of Pabst’s capitulation to the regime?

6. Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day (1989) also explores complicity through a narrator looking back on a life of service during the rise of Nazism. If you’ve read this work, in what ways are Franz Wilzek’s self-deceptions similar to or different from those of the butler, Stevens?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. If you were a museum curator designing an exhibition about the “lost” film, The Molander Case, what five objects or documents would you choose to display alongside the film cans? How would they tell the story of its creation and the moral compromises involved?

2. Imagine you could add one final scene to the novel from the perspective of a secondary character, such as Jakob, Trude, or Rosenzweig. Whose perspective would you choose, and what would this scene reveal to provide a different sense of closure?

3. Suppose you were tasked with designing a memorial for the Sinti, Roma, and Jewish prisoners who were used as extras in films made during the Third Reich. What form would this memorial take, and what message would you want it to convey about the relationship between art and atrocity?