Filmmaker Blends Styles to Adapt Melville's 'Bartleby' for the Screen

In October 2025, Austrian writer-director Angela Summereder is premiering her new film 'B for Bartleby' at the Viennale film festival. The movie uses Herman Melville's renowned short story 'Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street' as inspiration for a broader cinematic exploration.

Summereder's film delves into "the impossibility of translating written language into images and sounds", according to the Viennale synopsis. It features a range of "adaptation" styles, including Melville-themed tours, actors impersonating the fictional Bartleby, and performers rehearsing the original text. The director's late partner, Benedikt Zulauf, had long dreamed of making a film based on the Bartleby story, and the new movie also incorporates their past discussions about the project.

Unlike the all-male setting of Melville's story, Summereder's film prominently features women, including a trio of theatrical performers who act as "mediators" between the individual male characters. Children reading and discussing the Bartleby story also play an important role in the movie. The director sought to expand on Melville's narrative by drawing inspiration from the author's own personal life, where he was surrounded by women.

Overall, 'B for Bartleby' aims to be more of a cinematic and performance experience than a straightforward film adaptation. Summereder's next project will continue her hybrid approach, focusing on themes of motherhood and climate change in relation to another classic literary work.