This film is extraordinary, and easy perhaps to dislike but its images linger for a long time in the mind after seeing it. David Szabo is not quite as convincing as the avenging angel of love that he appears to be, but he is watchable and almost believable. The story is simple; a married man meets a youth, and despite the growing passion the man feels, he watches as his life crumbles around him, because of this youth's invasion upon his 'secure' heterosexuality and the intense erotic feelings it provokes. More symbolic perhaps than real the film explores the dissolution of love both in the hetero and homosexual acts it portrays, and the man, being a published writer, loses his bearings creatively. Thomas Mann and 'Death in Venice' plus Mahler's unfinished 10th Symphony are used in the film, and the soundtrack is amazing. This leads in my opinion to a further meaning of the film which I believe is implicitly there; the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the arguably inward looking nature of the Hungarians afterwards. The final image of an empty red room, and no spoilers as to why, showed to me a finality to love and the void, hellish, that the man is trapped in. As for homophobia I am not convinced. The eroticism of male on male, and female on male sexuality is shown more as an assault on feeling than a value judgement. The direction and photography is superb and my only reservation at not giving it a full 10 is that it is profoundly pessimistic, and profoundly disturbing. I also believe it holds up a mirror to Hungary's history, and as in a crazy funfair it distorts and plays unhealthy games with the mind. As for the English title for the film it is absurd; nudity there is but more of the psyche than the flesh. I urge viewers to track it down, as it is a film that stands alone. Cross that frontier into it with an open mind.
Review of Férfiakt
