Lovefilm/Szerelmesfilm

Lovefilm is one of my favourite hungarian movie, a film that can be a nostalgia for all those who grown up in the socialist era, for all those who understand this timeperiod and for all those who wants to have a taste of the eastern european struggle, where distance love was almost impossible and not because of the distance, but because of the political regime, where and when travel was an unreachable privilege in this part of the world. Picturizing the undefined and unspoken nature of love between individuals that exists mostly in the minds of people, the film editing and flow is non linear and has constant transitions back and forth between images of childhood memories during World War II Nazi occupied Hungary and the soviet communist party controlled 1950s schooling and the early 1960s university days. It also echoes the tense times of the Prague spring of the late 1960s and the feeling of nostalgia in the early 1970s.

It is a masterpiece of the young István Szabó from 1970, many years before worldwide-fame and Oscar Prize. The film was selected as the Hungarian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 43rd Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.

A story of two young people in Hungary, Jancsi and Kata. First they are good friends, later lovers. Soon after the 56-Revolution Kata leaves Hungary and emigrate to Paris, Jancsi stays there. After appr.10 years Jancsi is allowed to visit Kata in France, their love is reborn, but after a short, very happy period Jancsi has to return to Hungary and their love fades as years go by.
The film is a fine memory of a not so nice past when two young people were separated from each other just because one of them lived in the "socialist" Hungary and the other in the "capitalist" France.

Lovefilm's novelistic kaleidoscope interprets Jansci's reminiscences with a direct, clear-eyed sensitivity that recalls the early work of French New Wave icons like Alain Resnais and François Truffaut.

The scene to be seen in this short youtube cut is still nowadays to be seen along the Danube side, shoes made of iron for an eternal memory of jewish people shutted into the river.

Date:	28 June 2012, Thursday 21:00
Venue:	Örökmozgó Cinema