Hans Castorp, fresh from university and about to become a civil engineer, comes to the Sanatorium Berghof in the Swiss Alps to visit his cousin Joachim, an army officer, who is recovering there from tuberculosis. Intending to remain at the Berghof for three weeks, Hans is gradually contaminated by the morbid atmosphere pervading the place. Wishing very much to be considered a patient like the others, he achieves his ends and stays in the sanatorium for ...seven years. During this time, he has enough time to take part in the furious philosophical debates pitting against each other Settembrini, a secular humanist, and Naphta, a totalitarian Jesuit. And to fall in love with the beautiful but enigmatic Clawdia Chauchat. When he is finally discharged in 1914 - along with all the other patients - it is only to plunge into the horrors of World War I.
Christoph Eichhorn
as Hans Castorp
Marie-France Pisier
as Clawdia Chauchat
Flavio Bucci
as Ludovico Settembrini
Charles Aznavour
as Naphta
Rod Steiger
as Mynher Peperkorn
Hans Christian Blech
as Hofrat Behrens
Alexander Radszun
as Joachim Ziemßen
Margot Hielscher
as Frau Stöhr
Gudrun Gabriel
as Frl. Marusja
Ann Zacharias
as Frl. Elly
Irm Hermann
as Frl. Engelhart
Kurt Raab
as Dr. Krokowski
