My Best Fiend
| My Best Fiend | |
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Screenshot from the film
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| Directed by | Werner Herzog |
| Produced by | Lucki Stipetic |
| Written by | Werner Herzog |
| Starring | Werner Herzog Klaus Kinski (archive footage) Eva Mattes Claudia Cardinale |
| Narrated by | Werner Herzog |
| Music by | Popol Vuh |
| Cinematography | Peter Zeitlinger |
| Edited by | Joe Bini |
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Release date
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Running time
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95 min. |
| Country | Germany |
| Language | German |
My Best Fiend (German: Mein liebster Feind - Klaus Kinski, literally My Dearest Enemy - Klaus Kinski) is a 1999 German documentary film written and directed by Werner Herzog, about his tumultuous yet productive relationship with German actor Klaus Kinski. It was released on DVD in 2000 by Anchor Bay.
The film opens with shots of Klaus Kinski performing – after his own interpretation – the role of Jesus. Kinski harangues the audience for not paying attention to him, curses wildly, has the microphone taken away from him, and, screaming, steals it back. Kinski left one of his Jesus tours to star in Herzog's film, Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972). This was the first of five films that the two would make together, the others being Nosferatu the Vampyre (1978); Woyzeck (1978); Fitzcarraldo (1982); and Cobra Verde (1987).
Herzog tours a substantially renovated apartment that he and his family shared with Kinski and other boarders, looks at the first film clip he ever saw of Kinski, and presents footage from the sets of their various movies. He recounts the heated and sometimes violent altercations between them, including the oft-repeated story of how he threatened to shoot Kinski should he leave the production of Aguirre. He also draws on footage from Burden of Dreams (1982), a documentary about the making of Fitzcarraldo, which was a particularly difficult film for their relationship.
At the same time, Herzog expresses a deep respect for Kinski's acting talent. Interviews with two of the women who starred opposite him, Eva Mattes (from Woyzeck) and Claudia Cardinale (from Fitzcarraldo), suggest that the actor had a calmer side. The final sequence in the film shows Kinski playing with a butterfly in the Peruvian jungle.
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