Charlatan

Agnieszka Holland’s fascinating biopic of Jan Mikolášek, a 20th century Czech herbalist whose great success masked the grimmest of secrets.

Herbal healer Jan Mikolášek won fame and fortune treating celebrities of the interwar, Nazi, and Communist eras, but his passion for healing was matched by a lust for cruelty and an incapacity for love that only one person could ever quell – his assistant, František. As a show trial threatens to reveal his secrets, Jan’s dichotomies are put to a final test, with the fate of his only love in the balance.