Macskajáték
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Macskajáték |
| Country of production | Hungary |
| original language |
Hungarian German |
| Publishing year | 1974 |
| length | 99 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Károly Makk |
| script | Károly Makk János Tóth |
| music | Péter Eötvös |
| camera | János Tóth |
| cut | György Sívó |
| occupation | |
| |
Macskajáték (German cat game ) is a Hungarian drama film by Károly Makk from 1974. It is based on the short novel Cat Game by István Örkény .
action
Giza lives not far from Munich with her son Michael, his wife and their two grandchildren. She came to the Federal Republic from Hungary and is now already of retirement age. Your health is fair. She is in regular correspondence with her younger sister Erzsi, who stayed in Budapest and works as a music teacher there. She also cooks for a younger couple of doctors. She is widowed and has a daughter with whom she is occasionally invited to dinner. Daughter Ilona is married to the doctor Joseph, but has no children. Erzsi therefore feels useless. The sisters rarely talk to each other on the phone.
Erzsi is looking for a specific photo that shows both sisters in their adolescence. Giza doesn't have the photo and suspects it has been lost. Erzi reports to Giza in her letters about Paula, whom she has met again. Paula once saved her and her husband Béla from starvation during World War II . Now she has a not insignificant influence on Erzsi, getting her to dye her hair and giving her a dress. Giza reacts jealously in the distance, but apologizes for it in a later letter. Erzsi, in turn, told Paula in a meeting about opera singer Viktor Csermlényi and her love for music. Erzsi and Viktor had been a couple since their youth and kept their affair going even after Erzsi was married to Béla. Only after a complicated Bélas operation did Erzsi break off contact with Viktor. Now they see each other every Thursday when Erzsi cooks for him. Their love is constant, if unspoken.
Erzsi attends a performance of Boris Godunov with her music class, but leaves shortly after the performance starts because she cannot stand the music - Viktor once sang the role and it was one of his best performances. At home she meets Viktor, who gives her roses and sings for her. He does not want to accept that at the age of 71 he no longer has the same voting power as he used to, and it pains Erzsi to see him like that. Shortly afterwards, their everyday work is disrupted. Because her students are angry with her for leaving them alone at the opera, they deliberately sing wrongly when they perform in front of the school principal. The director then advises Erzsi to retire in the fall. Shortly thereafter, Erzsi goes to a Viktor concert with Paula. Paula has shown interest in getting to know the great singer of yore. Erzsi later learns from Viktor that he drove Paula home in a taxi. Both spoke for a long time. Erzsi reacts jealously, wants to cancel a planned meal on Thursday, but then overcomes himself, only to find out in the evening from Viktor that supposedly a rehearsal is taking longer than planned, so he cannot come. Erzsi angrily throws away the food. Shortly afterwards, her maid Mousey writes to Giza that she is worried about Erzsi, who may have had a nervous breakdown. Giza tries to convince Erzsi to move to her house by phone, but Erzsi refuses because she wants to die in Budapest. She receives a prescription for new sleeping pills from her brother-in-law, she no longer answers letters and disconnects the phone.
Giza writes a letter to Mousey informing her that she will have an operation in two days. Erzsi, in turn, begins numerous letters to Giza, which she never sends. In them she describes how she went to Viktor and found him eating with Paula. In anger, she pushed all the food bowls off the table and left. He did not respond to her later calls. An attempt to speak to him at one of his concerts also failed. She confesses to Giza that she loves Viktor and asks that a concert tour through Germany be organized for him. After spending a few days apathetically in bed and writing incomplete letters, Erzsi overdoses sleeping pills. She collapses but doesn't die. A telegram from her nephew informs her that Giza has passed away. Shortly afterwards Paula sends her a letter with the photo that Erzsi has been looking for for a long time. They found it in Viktor's belongings. Erzsi takes the photo and mails it to Giza.
production
Macskajáték is based on the short novel Katzenspiel by István Örkény from 1964, which was also realized as a play in 1971. The role of Giza was originally intended to be played by Mária Mezei , who dropped out shortly before filming began. She was replaced by Elma Bulla, who had already played the role of Giza in the theater. Nelly Vágó created the costumes and József Romvári created the film . The film premiered on May 10, 1974 at the Cannes International Film Festival .
Awards
Macskajáték ran at the 1974 Cannes International Film Festival in the competition for the Palme d'Or . The film received an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film in 1975 .
Web links
- Macskajáték in the Internet Movie Database (English)