Age of Illusions (1965)

Jancsi Oláh is in the transitional phase between adolescence and adultness. He is born in 1938, and is now getting his first employment as an electronic engineer. On some TV-screens he ... See full summary »

Director:

István Szabó

Writer:

István Szabó

Stars:

András Bálint, Ilona Béres, Judit Halász

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
András Bálint	...	Jancsi Oláh
Ilona Béres	...	Éva Halk
Judit Halász	...	Habgab
Kati Sólyom	...	Anni
Cecília Esztergályos	...	Ági (as Esztergályos Cili)
Béla Asztalos	...	Laci
Tamás Eröss	...	Matyi
László Murányi	...	Gergely
István Dékány	...	Füsi
Miklós Gábor	...	Flesch fõmérnök
Imre Sinkovits	...	Harrer
János Rajz	...	Zsoldos úr
István Bujtor	...	Ági elsõ szerelme
Dorottya Géczy	...	Nõ a parton
Fredi Haber	...	Zongorista

Storyline

Jancsi Oláh is in the transitional phase between adolescence and adultness. He is born in 1938, and is now getting his first employment as an electronic engineer. On some TV-screens he happens to see a young lawyer, Éva Halk, who arrests his attention. In his imagination she is the most interesting woman he ever saw. Jansci is part of a closely knit gang of young engineers. They see the older engineers as mediocre, and have grand ideas about developing new inventions together. With changing living conditions the five friends start to grow apart. At a party Jancsi suddenly meets Éva Halk. They fall in love, and find common memories in the engagement in The Pioneer Railway at the age of 12. Both of them also chose to stay in Hungary in '56, when many of their friends fled the country. The sudden death of the gang member Laci in leukemia is a hard blow for them all. The fear of death grabs Éva and Jancsi. They start seeing each other as obstacles to their own development, and drift apart.

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Taglines:

Recommended by the National Society of Film Critics

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Genres:

Drama

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Did You Know?

Connections

References The 400 Blows (1959)

User Reviews

Hungarian Echoes.

The copy which the Hungarians told the Sydney Film Festival not to send back in 1965 (because the authorities were burning them) is still around to remind us what passed for state of the art movie in those days.

Grey monochrome images record the disillusion of the Hungarian recent engineering graduates - who are still fiddling round with radio valves. However we lose them a few reels in, to settle down to the romance of Bálint and Béres. Best scenes are the trip to the movies where her comments over the historical compilation, in which we glimpse her as a child working on the Pioneer Railroad, become voice over and they repeat this with the montage of Béres' social work clients who her advise will not help.

The bleak living conditions - lack of accommodation, slow advancement, unappealing Communist and Catholic values, don't get any more cheerful as Szabó tries to inject hectic, free wheeling camera gymnastics and citations of Truffaut. The intended echoes of the Nouvelle Vague come over as derivative.

By the time he got to "Mephisto", the director had acquired more gravitas. The sensitivity and seriousness of purpose that come without surprises is evident in both.

Details

Country:

Hungary

Language:

Hungarian

Release Date:

11 February 1965 (Hungary)

Also Known As:

Age of Illusions

Filming Locations:

Lake Balaton, Hungary

Company Credits

Production Co:

Studio III

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1