Budapest, Hungary, Christmas 1957. The state, insecure after the defeated revolution of 1956 and increasingly put under the influence of a renewed Stalinist atmosphere, has decreed that all security officials must pass an exam to verify their loyalty. But to be actually effective in a shadowy world where suspicion and secrets reign, the subjects must be unaware that they are being tested.
Acting
Kulka's trembling restraint—every blink is a confession.
Cinematography
Snow-blind exteriors vs. yellowed interiors: beauty as prison.
Writing
Dialogue so coded it needs its own decoder ring.
Director
Péter Bergendy
János Kulka
Pál Markó
Zsolt Nagy
András Jung
Péter Scherer
Emil Kulcsár
Gabriella Hámori
Éva Gáti
Péter Haumann
Colonel Rozgonyi
Ferenc Elek
Imre Csapó
András Balogh
Ferenc Dohány
László Széles
Varga
Áron Dimény
Vígh
Gábor Hellebrandt
Filmmaker Radnai
Lehel Kovács
Pálmai
Péter Haás Vander
Priest
Mihály Szabados
Literary Informer Bolha
János Papp
Photographer
Pap Vera
Egriné
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Filmed in 2011 as Hungary's government was consolidating media control; critics called it 'accidentally contemporary.' Director Bergendy denied intentional parallels. Nobody believed him.
The Christmas Eve setting wasn't in the original script. Production needed snow, Budapest delivered a blizzard, and the holiday became the perfect ironic backdrop for institutional cruelty.
HU
