This is the first feature film by the director Volker Schlöndorff and the film adaptation of Robert Musil’s novel. The story takes place in an Austrian military school at the beginning of the 20th century. The main character is Thomas Törless, a young man who witnessed a sadistic abuse of one of the students by two of Thomas’ friends.

The director won the critics’ award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1966.