The Toth family resides in Northern Hungary. The couple has a daughter and a son, the latter a member of the armed forces. When his weary major is ordered to take a vacation, the son talks him into a visit to his family home. Comedy ensues when the Toths go overboard trying to make things pleasant for the visiting major in hopes of an easier life for their son the soldier.
Acting
Latinovits's deadpan cruelty, Sinkovits's crumbling dignity.
Direction
Fábri turns cozy family scenes into suffocating traps.
Writing
Comedy that curdles—every laugh costs something.
Director
Zoltán Fábri
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during Hungary's 'soft' communist period, Fábri smuggled anti-authoritarian critique past censors by setting it in WWII fascist Hungary—regime change, same groveling.
The peacock feather motif: Mrs. Tót's prized possession becomes a symbol of exposed, ridiculous vanity when the Major finally sees their true poverty.
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