FALAK

Mrs. Benko is waiting for her husband at Budapest airport. He is returning from a business trip abroad. Here she meets the wife of Laszlo Ambrus. They both bring up an episode from the recent past, when Ambrus brought down the wrath of his supervisor, Ferenczi, because he had discouraged some customers from buying technical material that he considered useless. Mr. Benko is a member of the board of directors and will have to decide Ambrus's fate. He is forced to remain in Paris because of a technical failure and has time to ask for advice from Péter Lendvai, an old friend and colleague of his who had left Hungary in 1956. Meantime, in Budapest the people involved in the Ambrus affair are wrapped up in feverish activity. Mrs. Benko assures Ferenczi that her husband will toe the line prudently. Szamosi, president of the disciplinary committee, stalls for time. Mrs. Ambrus would be in favor of a compromise. Zsuzsa, a young woman whi us an old girlfriend of Ambrus, tries to make peace between him and Ferenczi. By the time Benko arrives in Budapest, Ambrus's fate has already been decided. It would be possible for him to pretend he does not know anything because a decision had already been made without him. However, his young sister-in-law, a student, intercedes with him and he consequently decides to go to see Ambrus to coordinate a Joint strategy.

"'Government', 'Opposition'. […] What does it mean to be revolutionary ina system where the revolutionary forces are in power? This is what I am interested in. […] We do not have any experience with the fact that there may be many equivalent roads that lead to the truth. […] We only know extremes, only heroes and traitors, either everything or nothing, leaving all circumstances and real power relationship aside. […] It is another question whether the walls that surround us are sometimes farther away than we think, or whether they are closer than they could be. In essence, Falak deals with the fact that besides new economic mechanisms we also need new mechanisms in human relationship." (Andras Kovacs, "Nepszabadsag", 20/1/1968)

Director and screenplay: Andras Kovacs.
Director of photography: Gyorgy Illés.
Art director: Jozsef Romvary.
Inserti musicali: Mikis Theodorakis.
Cast and characters: Miklos Gabor (Benko), Zoltan Latinovits (Ambrus), Philippe March (Lendvai), Zsuzsa Banky (signora Benko), Mari Szemes (signora Ambrus), Bernadette Lafont (Marie), Andrea Drahota (Zsuzsa), Judith Toth (Marta), Laszlo Mensaros (Ferenczi), Imre Raday (Szamosi).
Production company: MaFilm (Studio 1), Budapest.