Read in weekend “The Hindu” about a Hungarian Film Festival that’s happening in Chennai from 11th to 13th March 2013, I contacted the office of the organisers – ICAF (Indo Cine Appreciation Foundation, Phone: +91-44-6516 3866) for tickets. ICAF conducts the famous Chennai Film Festival every year. Today before the screening at the venue (Devi Sri Prasad Preview theatre, T.Nagar) I gave an enrolment form along with Rs.800 as one-year membership to ICAF.
The Prince’s Respite
The first Hungarian movie that got screened today was “The Prince’s Respite”. It is about a famous model in Hungary who gets shot by a mugger, but before the decision to hell/heaven decision manages to get a minute of parole back to earth. She doesn’t understand what this means or why she has got this respite. With help from a stranger/angel, she slowly learns how to elongate this one minute which keeps playing over and over, escape from the death collector. She turns to her former lover, present lover, father & mother to get them to die on her behalf but no one understands her. Getting tired of running away from death over and over again, she finally sees the true meaning of her test and takes the decision of her life.
Though the story as such is unbelievable and lacks explanation even from a mythological standpoint, the Director Péter Tímár has done the screenplay quite well. The lead actor Gabi Szabó, brings to life the anxiety of being close to death and her failure to convince any of her relatives/friends of her desperate situation. The film has an advantage of taking you around the streets of Budapest’s and its subway stations
