| Szenvedely
(Passion)
Gyorgy Feher Hungary
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| Awarded both the Hungarian Jury Prize and the Foreign Critics Prize at the Budapest Festival of Hungarian Films, Gyorgy Feher's Szenvedely (Passion) is yet another free-style adaptation of James M Cain's novel The Postman Always Rings Twice, that seminal hard-boiled detective story published in 1934 by the news reporter-screenwriter-novelist whose other novels, Mildred Pierce and Double Indemnity, were also adapted to screen classics. |  |
| When Giuseppe de Santis and Luchino Visconti collaborated
on the latter's neorealist classic Ossessione (Italy, 1942), the film could
not be shown in the United States due to copyright problems, although it
was only loosely based on Cain's original. Two later Hollywood adaptations
confirmed the longevity of The Postman Always Rings Twice: Tay Garnett's
film noir version in 1946 and Bob Rafelson's hit at the 1981 Cannes festival.
Running at two hours plus, about the same length as Visconti's Obsession, Feher's Passion picks up where his first feature, Twilight (Special Prize at the 1990 Budapest festival), a murder case involving young girls, left off. The Hungarian version of Cain's forbidden love-and-murder tryst leans heavily on experimental techniques: handheld camera, long takes, static monologues in close-up, highly stylised monochrome black-and-white images – all of which cloak the story in a claustrophobic approach that poses a depressing, atmospheric, personal view of the universe. In short, we are watching a perfectionist at work. Gyorgy Feher spent three years fashioning, shooting and reshooting Passion. Performances are uniform – and, over the long run, often brilliant. Ron Holloway |
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| FILM CREDITS | |
| Producer | Eva Schulze, Jolan Arvai, Ferenc Kardos, Gyorgy Feher, Pal Dardai |
| Director | Gyorgy Feher |
| Screenplay | Gyorgy Feher |
| Cast | Ildiko Bansagi, Janos Derzi, Roszics Dzsoko |
| Running Time | 136 mins |
| International Sales | S-Media 2000 Budapest |