Cinema
Age of Illusions
Álmodozások kora
István Szabó · 1965
Synopsis
Budapest, in the early sixties. Oláh Jancsi and his friends, young engineers, work together and make plans for the future; they see in their elders, chief engineer Flesch foremost among them, the wall that stops them from moving forward. A great idea comes to them, which they intend to carry out together, abroad if need be. But the director assigns them to different departments, the momentum fades, and after a holiday at Lake Balaton the little group begins to break up.
Context
Szabó wrote the screenplay himself for this first feature film, shot in 1964 and released on 11 February 1965, with the support of János Herskó. The film follows the generation of its author, the one that knew the war as children and 1956 as adolescents, and mixes with the narrative short episodes, newsreel images and the voice of a narrator; József Nepp made the animated passages. The question of compromise with power, present here, recurs throughout Szabó's work.
Who it is for
A narrative in fragments, carried by András Bálint and Ilona Béres, in which the hero observes his generation; released on DVD in France by Malavida.
Prizes and reception
Presented at Locarno in 1965, it marks its author's entry into the new Hungarian cinema, under the influence of Truffaut and Godard.