Father

Oče / Apa / Father

István Szabó, Madžarska / Hungary, 1966, 88’

In this poignant yet never sentimental coming-of-age story, a young man confronts his almost mythical image of his father, who was killed in World War II and whom he never knew.

The young lad recalls memories of his father, who died in 1945, and brings them to life through his own imagination. In his mind, his doctor father becomes first a fearless resistance fighter then a celebrated hero, saviour of hundreds. The boy-turned-university student is increasingly oppressed by the tension between the self-created myth and the somewhat banal reality. If he finally intends to make his own way in life, he must resolve the false image of his father. 

István Szabó’s first three films are based on his own experiences in childhood and as a youth, but at the same time these works speak of the general feeling of an entire generation. The writer-director breaks down the highly personalized account into an episodic structure, and constantly blurs the line between reality and the world of childhood imagination. Father was conceived under the spell of auteur French New Wave reinventing the language of film, and yet it is a specifically Hungarian work because of its striking historical associations and typical Budapest milieu. Despite the ironic, light tone, it is a truly serious coming-of-age drama and at the same time an even more general clinical picture of a period. The destructive effects of patterns and tinted myths raise constantly relevant questions, whether for an individual, a generation or an entire country. 

István Szabó (1938) is a writer and director, one of the most internationally celebrated Hungarian filmmakers of the post-war period. Beginning in the 1950s, he has made 35 features and numerous shorts. His films tackle the political and psychological conflicts of Central Europe’s recent history, often inspired by his own biography.  

With support from the Liszt Institute, Hungarian Cultural Centre Ljubljana.