Country: Austria
Year: 1970
Duration: 85'


Dr. Imre Kalan lives in a kind of exile. We do not know if it is voluntary or forced. In the 50's he had an important position and was involved in the trials of that period. He continues to believe that it is wrong to condemn those years and has not even removed the bust of Stalin from his office. He looks al the world around him with rancor. His only interest is hunting. One day his exstudent, Andras, goes to visit him. When Andras was a university student, he was the boyfriend of Mari, who is now, the doctor's wife. We soon notice that the doctor and his wife do not get along wery well. During a walk in the autumn forest Andras lets the flow of his momories take over and reevokes their last night of love-making. Mari, too, allows herself to be swept up in her old emotions. Kalan is looking at them through his binoculars. The next morning, during a hunting excursion, it is not the deer that Kalan is aiming at…

"In Mérsékelt égov […] there is a more decisive way of seeing. His artistic temperament is harder and more resolute. What was previously pure teaching has now mellowed into consciousness and has hardened into the taking of a position. Bitter alienation has been replaced by incorporeal affectation. The stubborn quest for precision has been replaced by the randomness of stylistic improvisation. In this he resembles his master, Miklos Jancso, because he speaks his language, aside from some exceptional and eloquent excerpts and from the Westernfilm type rage of the youths in the film. Likewise, the serious things he has to say and the way he creates merit special mention. As regards creation, he takes a bull-headed, almost hostile stance towards his own subject, not to mention his heroes. He rightly keeps his distance from them. He is patently weak when he wants to be lyrical. (Laszlo B. Nagy, "Élet és irodalom", 29/8/1970)

Biography

film director

Zsolt Kézdi-Kovacs

Cast

& Credits

Director: Zsolt KézdiKovacs.
Screenplay: Zsolt KézdiKovacs, da un racconto di Arpad Ajtony.
Director of photography: Janos Kende.
Art director: Tamas Banovich.
Editor: Zoltan Farkas.
Music: Janos Conda.
Cast and characters: Rudolf Somogyvari (Dr. Imre Kalan), Mari Torocsik (Mari, sua moglie), Andras Kozak (Andras), Péter Benko (Pista), Tibor Molnar (Istvan Kovacs), Adain Szirtes (il direttore Zoli), Franciska Gyory (la maestra), Marcell Gellért (Tomi, fratello di Pista), Zoltan Vadasz (Balint).
Production company: MaFilm (Studio 4), Budapest.
Menu