- A peculiar, paced love story – dare I say romantic comedy. Alexandra Borbely stars as Maria and Geza Morcsanyi as Endre in this work by Hungarian director Ildikó Enyedi
A marvelous opening—trees in the winter, two deer, one male and female. These would represent the dreams of Endre and Maria
They work in a slaughterhouse- or a meat processing plant. Great frame of the janitor through the doorway—Enyedi has a penchant for these doorway framed shots
Maria is a shy woman, almost paralyzed by her introverted nature—and Endre is handicapped only has the use of one arm – they have the same dream, the same spirit animal
- Deadpan comedic sequences like Maria looking for romance/sex music and listening to metal music with a blank stare
- The shot of her in the bathtub broken up by the doorway is another impressive frame
- The sun shining through on the surrealism deer/forest sequence—the sun is finally shining through for the final frame coming full circle
- Recommend but not in the top 10 of 2017
I recently caught this film, and I was very impressed. That said, nothing in the trailers prepared me for how difficult some of the scenes were to watch, in the slaughterhouse and later in the bathtub. There is this beautiful visual motif of shooting faces through glass doors or windows. I’d say Enyedi has a healthy fascination with faces, and in capturing them, she manages to convey every little nuance and detail, the changes in lighting, the sun, little shadows cast by leaves or objects, neon lights reflected on the glass. It’s a strong stylistic choice, and the camera throughout the film remains very tuned in, sensitive to shifts in the atmosphere and mood. It’s a very carefully directed film. The performances by Borbely and Morcsanyi are both wonderful and honest, highly nuanced and attuned. The dream sequences are done with such lightness of touch, they communicate quietness and clarity. The snowy landscapes of course are captured beautifully. It makes me interested in seeing what Enyedi is up to with her next project, the Story of my Wife. It looks rather promising.
@Georg- rough start on metacritic and rotten tomatoes https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-story-of-my-wife https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_story_of_my_wife out of cannes here for Enyedi’s latest The Story of My Wife
@Drake – oh that’s too bad. At least they all sort of recognise the achievement in atmosphere, which should count for something. We’ll see how time shakes out on this one. On a positive Cannes related note, the French Dispatch is doing splendidly.
@Georg- indeed, I’m sure there are other summaries but I like the metacritic one https://www.metacritic.com/feature/best-and-worst-films-at-2021-cannes-film-festival