ÖRÖKBEFOGADÁS

Hungary. Directed by Márta Mészáros, 1975.

Date: Sep 20th, 2005. Format: Television broadcast. Surrounding: Home, Tampere.

And here's another adoption story. It's settled in communistic society. Kata is over 40 years old and would like to have a child. The man she is seeing is already married and doesn't want to make anymore children. The life is very grey. Kata gets to know a young teenager girl Anna who is popular with boys. The two different-aged women sense some kind of connection in their relation to men and their wants. I don't think adoption here serves only an allegory of socialism; Mészáros's directing gives a very insight look into women's world. The disappointing conclusion of the eagerly waited dance night, where most of the women start to cry or become otherwise depressed, is unique. In contrast György Kovác's music is almost charming. I wonder is there a soundtrack existing? And what will be the future of Mészáros on dvd markets? I've sometimes used her as an example of the directors who might face the forgetting. Or has she faced it already? This film started a series of her films on Yle Teema. But what about sales? Even though art cinema has benefited more from the dvd age than the past video era, we can see the Iron Curtain still standing there so strongly. ****