It must be the ultimate act of revenge: fictional characters rebelling against their creator. This is the essence of At SwimTwo-Birds which was first published in 1939. The subversive humour of Flann O'Brien's daring and complicated comedy not only transfers brilliantly from the page to the screen in Kurt Palm's hilarious debut movie, it also works well in German.

First screened in Austria last November, In Schwimmen-Zwei-Vogel was recently shown at Berlin. For the Austrian theatre director the film continues his happy involvement with O'Brien's work which began in 1989. "My brother told me to read it. I had never heard of it. O'Brien was only translated into German in 1989, to mark the 50 anniversary of its publication. It's done very well. He is a cult figure in Austria. But you know, at first I didn't understand it."

Though bewildered, Kurt Palm was sufficiently intrigued to phone the translator. It must have been a worthwhile conversation. Palm became fascinated with the book: "I organised a 17 hour-long reading of it. There was already a dramatisation of it, which I adapted further and then staged in 1991." Speaking from his home in Vienna, Palm (42) is a lively, imaginative character, fast talking and extremely articulate. Theatre has been his life since following a degree in literature - he completed a doctorate on Brecht. In 1984 he went to Berlin and spent a year working at the Brecht theatre, the Berliner Ensemble. Back in Austria, from 1989 up until the present, he has been involved in 40 productions. He has also directed opera. How about his interest in cinema? "I worked in the States for a while. But you know, we don't have a film industry here in Austria. It's all theatre."

MENTION specific scenes from the film back to him and he laughs. "I didn't like the end of the novel," he says so he has had some fun with it as well as making other changes, such as presenting the Red Swan Hotel in a more isolated country setting and dispensing with the university sequences. Palm has deliberately imposed a narrative structure on a novel which does not really have one. "Of course this was needed - it's only when you come to do something on screen you see the things you can't use. You can't always take an image that works very well on the page. There are things I liked that I couldn't use. But that's what happens. But you know I think the book is really about rejecting the rigidity of art and I think that comes across well."

Bran spends most of his time in bed as does Dermot Trellis. Finn MacCool's part is rather streamlined, yet even purists and O'Brien devotees will find it difficult to complain. The cast, several of whom appeared in Palm's stage versions, is brilliant, sustaining an ensemble tone of deadpan fatalism. From the Pooka to John Furrisky to the wonderful pairing of Paul Shanahan and Antony Lamont it is very well cast and the decision to use an Irish actress, Kathy Tanner, as Peggy is particularly effective.

Central to the success of the film is the way in which Palm has kept the essence of its Irishness, which is undercut by a modified surrealism. This cleverly echoes the work of David Lynch, even down to the use of music. "Yes it is very Lynch; I admire him," says Palm.

For him the movie is not only an important debut but saw him transferring a work from stage to the screen. Above all, he wanted the comedy of it. "Austria is very serious - for instance we take death very seriously. I love the blackness of the Irish comedy. If you look at something like Angela's Ashes, it's the same thing. Very funny in the face of suffering and poverty. I love this, it's so different from what we in Austria are used to."

PLEASED with the positive reaction in Germany, he says he was delighted that the German audience did not say " `Ah that's an Austrian film.' This is important to me; I wanted it to be different. Like they say, Austrians and Germans speak the same language but are completely different." A difference in their approach to humour is but one of many cultural differences between them, it seems. "What I enjoy about O'Brien's comedy is its sarcasm. His humour grows very slowly; it is not obvious. I think if people don't like it, they really hate it. But if they do, they love it." Stressing his interest in Irish writing, he says "I love Joyce, Swift, Sterne and have done work on all of them." His collage of Tristram Shandy was performed in a coffin factory. Sounds like a great set. "It was. It was ideal," he says with nostalgia. "It's funny. I have this thing about Irish writing but I've never been to Ireland." In November, however, he will direct Die Fledermaus for Opera Ireland.

Shot in 28 days on a budget which translates according to Palm "to maybe $1 million" he says At Swim will be on general release everywhere in Europe - except for Ireland. This is particularly ironic, as O'Nolan's brother Michael has seen the film, and said he liked it.

"I don't understand the problem. But I am coming to speak with the lawyers. I'm looking forward to it being screened in the festival but obviously I would like if it were on general release."

Saturday, March 7th, Screen, 1.45 p.m.