Cinema
Spring Shower
Tavaszi zápor
Pál Fejős · 1932
Synopsis
In a village manor house, people are getting ready for the ball. Mari, the young maid, accompanies her mistress and the daughter of the house, but has to watch the dancers from outside, from where she is driven away again. On the way back, the estate steward, who has seen the young lady home, offers her sweets in the garden and seduces her. Months later, her mistress discovers the baby clothes she is preparing and dismisses her. Pregnant, with no place in the village, Mari leaves for the city, does cleaning work, and then the proprietress of an establishment, the Fortuna, takes her in.
Context
The film was produced by the Frenchman Adolphe Osso, who had to spend in Hungary funds that had been blocked there, and shot in several versions, including a French one, Marie, légende hongroise; the Hungarian servant is played by the French star Annabella. Back from Hollywood, Fejős wanted to make an art film in Hungary, which its exotic setting would also help sell in America. Very little is spoken in it: emotion comes through the image, the editing, the sounds and the music, at the risk at times of an emphatic theatricality. The premiere took place in Budapest on 4 November 1932.
Who it is for
A little under eighty minutes, with very little dialogue, where the sound accompanies rather than tells; a French version was shot.
Prizes and reception
Rejected on release by the public and by critics alike, it is counted today among the landmark works of Hungarian cinema of the thirties.