Love (1971)
Love (Szerelem) (1971)
A Film by Károly Makk
DVD9 | ISO+MDS | PAL 16:9 | 01:24:48 | 5,64 Gb
Audio: Hungarian AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps | Subs: English
Genre: Drama, Art-house | 3 wins | Hungary
A Film by Károly Makk
DVD9 | ISO+MDS | PAL 16:9 | 01:24:48 | 5,64 Gb
Audio: Hungarian AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps | Subs: English
Genre: Drama, Art-house | 3 wins | Hungary
This tender black-and-white Hungarian drama takes place in the '50s. A woman's (Mari Torocsik) husband has been arrested by the Hungarian secret police and imprisoned as a dissident. The young wife li… read more read more…ves with her mother-in-law (Lili Darvas), a sweet and magnetic woman, appears to believe that her son has emigrated to America. Unable to do anything about her husband's imprisonment, the daughter-in-law keeps the old woman's good cheer alive by concocting a series of letters from her husband, wherein he does incredible and wonderful things. The two of them share the older lady's memories of a gentler time. When the husband is finally released, his mother has already passed away, but the love he and his wife share is shown. The role of the mother-in-law was played, at the request of the director, by octogenarian Lili Darvas, the wife of the famous Hungarian playwright and novelist Ferenc Molnar (1878-1952).
IMDB
DVDBeaver
Second Run
Based on two short stories by Hungarian author Tobor Déry, Love explores how individuals survive in the face of adversity and the absence of a loved one. We are first introduced to a frail old nonagenarian (Lili Darvas) whose ill-health has confined her to her bed. Her mind remains incredibly lucid and she spends her days remembering the past, brilliantly filmed as rapid shots of film rushes. Her accomplice in this remembrance is her daughter-in-law Luca (Mari Törõcsik), who visits her as often as she can. The absent husband/son, János, is often a feature of their conversations as the old lady receives effusive letters from him in America, recounting his trials and tribulations as a big shot film director. However, behind the letters lies a far more troubling reality.
Love (1971)
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Written on the back of the 1956 uprisings, the story told by Love was obviously political dynamite but given Hungary's relatively independent staus within the Warsaw pact ("the happiest barrack in the Eastern Bloc"), the stories were published with no reprisals against the author. Although there had been a few amnesties in the meanwhile, the 70s was an era when cinema of this sort was still seen by the censors as far too overtly critical to be approved. Thirty years later, it is still quite a testament to the openness of the Hungarian censors that Love ever saw the light of day albeit after Károly Makk harassed them for permission for over half a decade. The turning point, according to Makk, came when the wives of the censors turned against them, accusing them of being hypocrites as many of them had been locked up in 56 - after five years of constant fight, Makk was able to make his film and what a film it turned out to be…
Love (1971)
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Although Makk is not a sentimental director, he has a good eye for economy which in turn enhances the underlying emotions. Nothing here is forced nor overplayed - frequently, there are obvious paths that open for a factice heartstring tug but he's just not interested in taking them when the path less travelled is likely to be far more rewarding. The cinematography and the editing are quite singular - they approach a state of almost still life photography but with some very rapid editing offering the viewer further insight into the character's thoughts. Ozu's use of transitional shots seem to be echoed in Makk's use of lingering shots of nature to link scenes together - though those shots are unrelated to the scenes, they are effective in establishing the mood of the upcoming scene and highly symbolic on closer inspection. Of course, mastering the image so fully would be a nice but vacuous experience were the script and the acting not up to the same standard. Thankfully, they are - the two main actresses manage to provide a realistic relationship that perfectly parallels the real life tensions of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law as well as the ambiguity of their love for the same person. Even when the film shifts in focus, Makk doesn't let this change put a spanner in the works and keeps the whole proceedings tightly under control… Combining lyricism, philosophy and politics is not an easy feat but one can't really ask for a more perfectly rounded effort than Love…
Love (1971)
Makk's haunting, atmospheric and beautifully performed film, brilliantly shot by Janos Toth, captures exactly the fear and uncertainty of the time. It is, above all, a treatise on how such times affect fidelity, faith, illusion, love. It deals specifically with Hungary but has an absolutely universal appeal… completely unsentimental, but catches precisely what its characters face and how they feel…an outstanding film.Derek Malcolm, The Guardian
Love (1971)
Karoly Makk's Love is his masterpiece, perhaps the best film to come out of Hungary. It's based on the autobiography of Tibor Dery, a renown writer imprisoned in 1956 for political reasons.
The story is set in 1953 when the ruthless despotic Russian puppet head Rakosi ruled and created a depressing political state. Makk had to wait five years to clear the film with state censors. It tells the gripping account under political tyranny of a young woman named Luca (Mari Torocsik) and her dying octogenarian mother-in-law (Lili Darvas). The women with different outlooks on life find their life has become ritualized to the tune of daily visits, as they both are in the dark anxiously awaiting the return of the one they love. One wonders what's keeping him from visiting when she's on her deathbed and the other hoping he's still alive.
Love (1971)
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The frail bed-ridden old woman is looked after by the housekeeper. The Vienna-born woman has two sons, one killed in the war and the other, Janos (Ivan Darvas), married Luca. Out of kindness, Luca fails to tell that Janos was imprisoned on trumped-up political charges and imprisoned as a dissident and sentenced to ten years. Luca makes up a story that Janos is in America directing a movie that will make him rich and famous. Visiting regularly bearing cheer and gifts, Luca in reality is faced with dire financial problems since she lost her teaching position because of politics and is forced to live in the maid's quarters because tenants were ordered to live in her house.
Love (1971)
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Whether the old woman believes Luca is left ambiguous. In the climactic scene a beaten down Janos returns home after being freed.
Makk creates a haunting atmosphere, while the performances of Darvas and Torocsik are superb. Both the tender love story and the tale for the yearning of freedom are richly appealing. The unsentimental film is unforgettable, and manages not to be grim.Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
Love (1971)
Special Features:
• Digitally re-mastered with restored image and sound, approved by the Director
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• Introduction to the film by its director Karoly Makk (20:11)
• Theatrical trailer (3:13)
Love (1971)
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