A family of railway workers in the Balaton Uplands awaits a relative from Pest as a guest, together with his boss – a high-ranking official – and the latter’s family. In preparing a luxurious luncheon, the woman of the house Mrs Kajtár bullies and works everyone to exhaustion to smooth the way for her two children’s future. Three people take a different view of this “sacrifice,” however: the two youths, whose aims differ from their mother’s plans, and the boss himself. This grotesque film in the style of La Grande Bouffe was a highly original and striking example of the “Czech” strand of the Hungarian satire wave. It is at once funny, sad, grotesque, melancholy and very Hungarian to witness how, in a totally natural way, the political elite are seated at the same table as simple folk yearning to climb the social ladder on the “sacred festival of our constitution,” portraying the full “panoply” of society from the highest cadre to the parish priest, and from the old crown guard to the crypt builder. Besides numerous Hungarian awards, the film won the main prize at the Karlovy Vary festival in 1978.

Presented by: Palace of Arts, MaNDA