My love - Elektra

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title My love - Elektra
Original title Szerelmem, Elektra
Country of production Hungary
original language Hungarian
Publishing year 1974
length 70 minutes
Rod
Director Miklós Jancsó
script László Gyurkó ,
Gyula Hernádi
music Tamás Cseh
camera János Kende
cut Zoltan Farkas
occupation

The Hungarian feature film Meine Liebe - Elektra ( Szerelmem, Elektra ) by Miklós Jancsó from 1974 consists of only twelve shots, so-called plan sequences , with a playing time of 70 minutes . A mythical-archaic, ceremonial world is reported in which the oppressed revolt against a tyrant. The story is based on a play by László Gyurkó , which was staged continuously in Budapest in the five years before the film was made, and which in turn goes back to the ancient legend of Elektra . In the words of the Marxist director, the film is a filmed folk tale and a “parable of the idea that a revolutionary must constantly renew himself.” Jancsó thought the play dealt with problems that “not so long ago” existed in Hungary would have asked. He changed the ending of the saga because he felt that the people should not be held accountable for the tyranny. The film ran in the Cannes competition in 1975 .

action

Elektra is oppressed by the tyrant Aigisthos , who murdered her father. She is filled with the desire to overthrow Aigisthus and all those who, in whatever way, contribute to the maintenance of tyranny. In order to humiliate Elektra, Aigisthos forces her to marry a dwarf. Electra's brother Orestes returns from a foreign country. The siblings rebel against the tyrant together with the people. They catch Aighistos with a net, torture him and he is shot. A red helicopter lands, into which Elektra and Orestes climb and which carries them away.

Filming the sequence

The fact that the film consists of only twelve scheduled sequences had an impact on the shooting. The plot is not fixed in terms of place or time; it could be medieval Hungary or ancient Greece, described by co-author Gyula Hernádi as "roughly nomadic-agriculturally mystical". The shooting location was the Puszta near Kunszentmiklós . After a lightning strike, the thatched roofs burned down. Visual elements include rows of nude peasant girls standing in the landscape. Every day 500 extras from Budapest were brought to the filming location in a special train and in buses. Although there was no compensation for overtime , they made better money doing it than in the factories or shops. Jancsó often used the entire day of shooting for rehearsals, but the actual shooting (on Kodak material) took comparatively little time. Most of the plan sequences were recorded four to five times. The actors' dialogues were subsequently spoken synchronously; it took just a day to cut.

reviews

In Sight & Sound , Peter Day stated in 1975 that Jancsó was once again advocating a violent revolution as a means of liberating an oppressed society. Jancsó can be accused of repeating the themes and forms of his previous films, but as always this film is a nice visual experience. "Familiar, yes, but dazzling and highly refined." Mention was made of the "virtuoso" camera work, whereby the crane and rail journeys, zooming and panning merged more smoothly than ever. The Le Monde critic Jean de Baroncelli said in the same year: “With the development of the political-mythical fable, Jancsó's staging, like blood too thick, loses its fluidity. Under the weight of theatrical references and the blooming symbols, the opulence of which ultimately suffocates everything, the narrative weakens and is drowned in a mannerism that makes one laugh. "

There are also two ratings in books about Hungarian cinema. Burns (1996) called My Love - Elektra one of Jancsó's best works and one of the most successful adaptations of ancient legends. Most impressive is the fluid ballet of the actors and the camera. Everywhere you see signs of ingenuity and instinct, the red helicopter as a symbol of Marxist utopia is a “wonderful coup de théâtre that could make the audience as happy and optimistic as the farmers”. According to Cunningham (2004), Elektra can be described as the quintessential Jancsó of the 1970s.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Bryan Burns: World cinema: Hungary. Flick Books, Wiltshire 1996, ISBN 0-948911-71-9 , pp. 67-68
  2. ↑ Jancsó in La révue de cinéma , November 1975, quoted. in: Jeancolas 1989, pp. 104-105
  3. ↑ Burns p. 57, Cunningham 2004, p. 124
  4. ↑ Gideon Bachmann: Jancso plain . In: Sight & Sound , vol. 43, no. 4 from autumn 1974, pp. 217-221
  5. ↑ Peter Day: Elektreia . In: Sight & Sound , vol. 44, no. 4 from autumn 1975, pp. 258-259
  6. ^ Jean de Baroncelli in Le Monde , November 5, 1975
  7. ^ John Cunnigham: Hungarian Cinema. From coffee house to multiplex . Wallflower Press, London 2004, ISBN 1-903364-80-9 , p. 124