József Lörincz

The opera-film, as opposed to Gluck's Vienna version, is a recollection of the ancient tragic Greek myth. Orpheus, who is able to defeat Hades with the power of art, is unable to conquer his own human defects. Amor is sympathetic to Orpheus' sufferings as he mourns his dead beloved, and lets him know the message sent by the Gods, namely that he may take her home from the underworld if he is capable of not looking at her.

"The geometric structure, the construction of a statue is as important as the skeleton in a living being (...) it must be like poetry, music that awakens feelings in Man" - M. Frank

Szegedi Anna, a lawyer having just arrived back from Naples wants to divorce his husband, also a lawyer, because since a hot night she has only been thinking of Laczkó, the handsome businessman.

Andras (Zygmunt Malanowicz), an older man employed as a furniture designer, gets a life-jarring shock when he returns from a trip and finds that some of the work he developed has been given over to a younger employee. This instigates a mid-life crisis over his own identity and his sense of security and self-worth, all exacerbated by a recent divorce and estrangement from his son. Recognizing that he needs help, the man goes for therapy and starts to face his problems. Therapy counteracts some of the damage of living, and the man starts to consider his son, his relationships with women, and his father in a different light.

A story of two young people in Hungary, Jancsi and Kata. First they are good friends, later lovers. Soon after the 1956 Revolution Kata leaves Hungary, Jancsi stays there. After 10 years Jancsi is allowed to visit Kata in France, their love is reborn, but after a short, very happy period Jancsi has to return to Hungary and their love fades as years have gone by.

An oil driller falls for the lonely farm wife of a man working in Budapest.

Through the personal memories of István Szabó we can became the observers of the life of Budapest.

István Szabó reveals a lesser-known side to the public in this work, which strings together eight shorts of Budapest into a single movie. In the piece interpretable as a declaration of love addressed to the capital there are numerous motifs that are also to be found woven through the director’s major features, first and foremost Szerelmesfilm (Love Film), Tűzoltó utca 25. (25 Fireman’s Street) and Budapesti mesék (Budapest Tales). Besides allowing the viewer to marvel at the cityscape from 50 years ago in a series of fast-moving images, the film is still primarily about Szabó’s Budapest: his observations, his impressions, his imagination.