The Temptation of St. Tony (2009)

A mid-level manager who develops an aversion to being "good" finds himself confronting the mysteries of middle-age and morality as he loses grasp of what was once his quiet life.

Director:

Veiko Õunpuu

Writer:

Veiko Õunpuu (as Veiko Ounpuu)

Stars:

Taavi Eelmaa, Ravshana Kurkova, Tiina Tauraite

2 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Taavi Eelmaa	...	Tõnu
Ravshana Kurkova	...	Nadezhda
Tiina Tauraite	...	Tony's wife
Sten Ljunggren	...	Herr Meister
Denis Lavant	...	Count Dionysos Korzybski
Rain Tolk	...	KLeine Willy
Hendrik Toompere Jr.	...	Actor Toivo (as Hendrik Toompere)
Katariina Unt	...	Toivo's wife (as Katariina Lauk)
Harri Kõrvits	...	Director (as Harry Kõrvits)
Taavi Teplenkov	...	Urbo
Marika Barabanstsikova	...	Urbo's wife
Liis Lepik	...	Tony's child
Evald Aavik	...	Priest
Valeri Fjodorov	...	Nadezhda's father
Tarmo Mitt

Storyline

A mid-level manager who develops an aversion to being "good" finds himself confronting the mysteries of middle-age and morality as he loses grasp of what was once his quiet life.

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Plot Keywords:

hell | downward spiral | male frontal nudity | russian | nudity | 

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Taglines:

The most stupendous and bone chilling tragedy about the agony and decline of one middle-level manager.

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Mystery

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Estonia's official submission to 83rd Academy Award's Foreign Language in 2011.

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Goofs

In Part I, during the Bentley scene, the shadow of the boom mic is visible for an extended period of time in the reflection of the car window.

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Soundtracks

Le dévoreur
Written by Iskandar Hasnawi and Renaud Tschirner
Performed by Iskandar Hasnawi, Sébastien Roland, Renaud Tschirner

User Reviews

the new Bela Tarr?

Second feature from the Estonian director of the highly acclaimed Sugisball charts the catastrophic breakdown of the life of a dull, provincial middle-manager. Comparison with Tarkovsky and others may be premature but this is no sophomore effort and is worth taking seriously as it's full of impressive, meticulous scenes, ranging from droll to oddball to deeply disturbing, with good use of ambient music and innovative camera-work (surprisingly, still possible).

The narrative, in five parts, is sparse and evidently a large dose of obscurantism was added during the editing. At first it looks like a bleak comedy, then it seems to morph into a religious allegory (there's a fine scene where a priest walks up the wall) before developing into a quite nasty Lynchian nightmare involving cannibalism.

One synopsis I read bears scant relation to what I saw - the diabolic choice given to Tony by the 'Meister' whether to rebel or conform (presumably a simple metaphor of life under the Soviets) was absent - which may be just as well, because the obscurity of the narrative provides much of the atmosphere.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Estonia Finland Sweden France

Language:

Estonian Russian English French German

Release Date:

10 October 2009 (Estonia)

Also Known As:

Kuszenie świętego Tõnu

Filming Locations:

Estonia

Box Office

Budget:

EUR983,081 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$747, 19 September 2010

Gross USA:

$1,963

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,963

Company Credits

Production Co:

Homeless Bob Production, Bronson Club, Atmo Media Network

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1