Through the cooperation of the Palace of Arts and the Hungarian National Digital Archive and Film Institute (MaNDA), this new series will present the finest works of legendary Hungarian film directors. The first half of the year sees digital screenings of a selection of ten films from the life’s oeuvre of Zoltán Fábri. Although the three-time Kossuth Prize-winner Zoltán Fábri occupied pride of place in the display case of Socialist cultural policy, his work as a film director (1952-1983) was de...fined by the banning of his screenplays, so that he conveyed his humanist message about the world, dictatorship and human relationships in a series of literary adaptations that reached an audience of millions. Although he was essentially not an innovator in terms of the language of film, few directors would have as many powerful sequences in a hypothetical reel of the great symbolic moments in modern Hungarian film – from the dramatic merry-go-round scene in Körhinta (1955) to the vacant building site in A Pál utcai fiúk (1968), and from the expressive stadium in Hannibál tanár úr (1956) to Zoltán Latinovits’s major absurdly packing boxes in Isten hozta, őrnagy úr (1969). Reinstated after the uprising of 1956, the cultural policy of György Aczél needed filmmakers. It advocated conciliation and a policy of “signing contracts” with the leading figures of the preceding period. Although, for the time being, Fábri’s 1957 light comedy Bolond április (Crazy April) was temporarily kept under wraps, with its leading man László Mensáros sitting in prison. Fábri was nevertheless able – at the urging of Péter Bacsó – to come up with a topical “updating” of the novel by Dezső Kosztolányi. Expressively captured and utilising classical cinematic forms, the film is – like Hannibál tanár úr – a drama of powerlessness. The profundities and irony in the psychological context of the novel, which is set after the days of the short-lived Hungarian Soviet Republic, are not transferred to the film, which instead evokes the experience of the 1950s: for Fábri, the emphasis is on dramatic tension and the brutality of the social environment. The dreamworld of the disenfranchised servant girl shorn of her femininity and human dignity establishes a strong counterpoint to the nightmarish events of reality. However, the success of the film does not depend on the performance of Mari Törőcsik, perfect in its radiation of naïveté and fear. Even contemporary critics recognised that “the film simply does not allow Sweet Anna’s enemies to live… Sweet Anna’s dispensing of justice does not raise misgivings because of the action itself, but because she is late in taking it. Moreover, it is as if even the death of the Vizys would not satisfy the desire for revenge that is inflamed within us at such an early stage. For Anna’s knife is plunged not into living bodies, but into the puppets of the system.” (Pongrác Galsai) Presented by: Palace of Arts
Parking information
We wish to inform you that in the event that Müpa Budapest's underground garage and outdoor car park are operating at full capacity, it is advisable to plan for increased waiting times when you arrive. In order to avoid this, we recommend that you depart for our events in time, so that you you can find the ideal parking spot quickly and smoothly and arrive for our performance in comfort. The Müpa Budapest underground garage gates will be operated by an automatic number plate recognition system. Parking is free of charge for visitors with tickets to any of our paid performances on that given day. The detailed parking policy of Müpa Budapest is available here.
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