The Mentor

Two writers spend five days in an isolated country house participating – for a substantial fee – in a literary project. The renowned author Benjaming Rubin is to act as mentor to rising talent Martin Wegner, working with him on his newest work. The project foresees a week of intensive intellectual discussion in idyllic rural surroundings, complete with frog pond, overseen by the industrious official Wangenroth, who eventually outs himself as an aspiring artist, extolling his own paintings. Wegner has barely arrived when the first conflicts and jealousies erupt. The two authors exhibit a distinct lack of goodwill and neither has any clear idea what he’s doing there. Their only common ground is their pleasure in the fee, a motive as inspiring for the idealistic young author as it is for the cynical older one. Meanwhile Wegner’s wife Gina, an ardent fan of Rubin’s, cherishes the secret hope that Rubin will take her husband on as a protégé.