Two men and a femme in love . . .. . in old Budapest
The song "Gloomy Sunday" - a lush lullaby about death and mourning - was a worldwide hit in the 1930s, recorded by Billie Holiday, among others. The German-Hungarian film Gloomy Sunday dreams up a melancholy melodrama around the song, imagining a lovestruck pianist who composes the tune for the beautiful waitress in the cafe where they work. She, living with and in love with her restaurateur boss, also falls for the pianist. It's ye olde romantic triangle, fraught with jealousy and desire, but also, in this case, with caring and sharing: Andras the musician (Stefano Dionisi, a brooding Daniel Day-Lewis doppelgänger) and Laszlo the cafe proprietor (Joachim Krol) agree to apportion the lovely Ilona (Erika Marozsan) between them. She, for her part, is game. She cares for the two men in deep, different ways. It would break Ilona's heart to be without either.
The song "Gloomy Sunday" - a lush lullaby about death and mourning - was a worldwide hit in the 1930s, recorded by Billie Holiday, among others. The German-Hungarian film Gloomy Sunday dreams up a melancholy melodrama around the song, imagining a lovestruck pianist who composes the tune for the beautiful waitress in the cafe where they work. She, living with and in love with her restaurateur boss, also falls for the pianist.
It's ye olde romantic triangle, fraught with jealousy and desire, but also, in this case, with caring and sharing: Andras the musician (Stefano Dionisi, a brooding Daniel Day-Lewis doppelgänger) and Laszlo the cafe proprietor (Joachim Krol) agree to apportion the lovely Ilona (Erika Marozsan) between them. She, for her part, is game. She cares for the two men in deep, different ways. It would break Ilona's heart to be without either.
Into this most civilized arrangement - and into Budapest, the picturesque setting of the tale - roars the Nazi blitzkrieg. An SS officer, Col. Wieck (Ben Becker), who had visited Cafe Szabo in the prewar days, tumbles for Ilona too. (Then again, who wouldn't? She's a radiant, dark-haired, blue-eyed beauty.) The colonel is also partial to a beef entree served in Laszlo's establishment, and promises that Laszlo - a Jew - need not worry for his life or livelihood.
The engaging Gloomy Sunday, adapted from a novel by Nick Barkow, recalls both Casablanca (the cafe, the Nazi intrigue, the two-men-in-love-with-one-woman scenario) and The Unbearable Lightness of Being (a menage a trois set against the backdrop of an Old European city, with enemy tanks and a Day-Lewis look-alike). Director Rolf Schubel's picture is no classic - it's hokey at times, and lacks the epic sweep of a great romance - but it gets to you with its warmth, wit and mournful passion.
Contact movie critic Steven Rea
at 215-854-5629 or srea@phillynews.com.
Gloomy Sunday
*** (out of four stars)
Written by Ruth Toma and Rolf Schubel, directed by Schubel. With Erika Marozsan, Joachim Krol and Stefano Dionisi. In German with subtitles.
Running time: 1 hour, 54 mins.
Parent's guide: No MPAA rating (sex, nudity, profanity, violence, adult themes)
Playing at: Ritz Five and Ritz Sixteen/NJ