Almanac of Fall (1985)

Director
Béla Tarr

Main cast
Hédi Temessy; Erika Bodnár; Miklós Székely B.; Pál Hetényi; János Derzsi

Genres
Drama

Description
Possibly inspired by the existential play No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre, this story about five people living in close quarters in a small apartment conveys the same angst as Sartre's well-known story about the nature of hell. A single, older mother owns the apartment, where a nurse who has brought along a presumed lover tends her. The sick woman's son lives there, too, constantly thinking about how to get his hands on his mother's money. The last member of this unhappy "family" is a former teacher now down on his luck and out of work. The three men and the nurse are dependent on the sick woman, on her money and her apartment, just as she is dependent on them. Yet these individuals are two-faced, scheming, and prone to anger. Unable to break away and leave, at the same time they find no solace in staying -- making a difficult two hours of misery for the average viewer to take on without a therapist.


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