A red mark, a dead husband's ghost, and a widow who collects broken men like souvenirs.
When a young boy comes in to see a doctor abourt a red mark on his face, the doctor's wife welcomes him into the consulting room instead. As they talk, she offers him something to eat and then notes that his manner of eating is just like that of her previous husband, who died in prison many years earlier. It turns out that the young man had been his cell mate for a year, and he tells her the story of how her husband died. She then remembers (in flashbacks) how she had helped her first husband rid himself of his sexual repression, and how she had promised him she would marry her current husband if she were widowed. It seems her doctor-husband was a man who could remain untouched through any political climate, and was much admired by her first husband. Now that her memories have been awakened by the young man's account, she ignores the repeated phone calls of her current husband and decides to rid this young man of his own sexual repressions.
Acting
Edit Frajt's predatory stillness—she devours scenes without moving.
Direction
Fábri traps you in one room, then fragments time like broken glass.
Writing
The screenplay's sadistic symmetry: every liberation is a replacement.
Director
Zoltán Fábri
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during Hungary's 'Goulash Communism,' the film smuggles subversive sexuality past censors by framing it as psychological drama—Fábri's late-career defiance.
The red mark that opens the film is never explained medically; it's a MacGuffin of desire, allowing entry. By the end, you realize Netti herself is the infection.
HU
