| Budapest, 1958. In the years
after the failed Hungarian uprising, the oppressive rule of the Stalinists is
stifling. For Eva (Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieslak), a journalist with a nationalist
political fire, it may be worse than for most. After growing up a peasant but
devoting her life to intellectual pursuits, she finally lands a job with a newspaper,
despite the fact that she is also a lesbian. Eva shares her new office with
blonde and beautiful Livia (Grazyna Szapolowska), the wife of a Hungarian army
officer. She's uninhibited, with a zest for life that immediately attracts Eva,
and many cigarettes and cognacs later, the two women fall in love. To do so is
risky. Caught kissing one night on a park bench, police threaten Livia by telling
her that they will talk to both her husband and boss, and Eva is taken off to
the station. Despite the dangers, they plan to move in with each other,
even after Eva quits the paper to protest political censorship … but this
is Hungary in 1958. The bleakness of life behind the Iron Curtain may be interrupted
by the sparks of Eva and Livia, but the reality of this life is that such political
and social non-conformity is suppressed. The results are tragic for both women. Jankowska-Cieslak
won the award for best actress at the Cannes Film Festival, where writer/director
Károly Makk also won a special award. Although the film does not have a
happy ending for the two women, it's quite fitting that it does not. Part of the
value in watching this is feeling a politically repressive world, seeing how it
stifles those who dare to think or act out of bounds. |
