André Heller takes scenes and events from his childhood and transforms them into the story of a boy with a sparkling imagination. Climbing inside Vesuvius in an asbestos suit to look for fire fish in the molten lava is just one of Paul’s plans. Or another: becoming the world invisibility champion. But before that, he has to run away from his strict Catholic boarding school. When Paul’s father, the confectionary magnate Roman Silberstein, dies the boy is allowed to return to his family home. At the same time, his Jewish uncles arrive from overseas for the funeral, each outdoing one other as they tell stories from the curious lives of the Silbersteins, a worldly and unusual family living on in the bygone world of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. André Heller’s poetic memento to a child, an industrial dynasty and the glittering world of Viennese society.
