Gloomy Sunday
by Rolf Sch?bel
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DVD details
Actor: Andr?s B?lint, Ben Becker, Erika Marozs?n, Joachim Kr?l, Stefano DionisiDirector: Rolf Sch?bel
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: German (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 114 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-09-12
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Reviews of Gloomy Sunday
DVD Review: Musetta
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a fabulous film. Friends rented it and I was so impressed I bought my own copy. This is a love story and a human story. It speaks of how the entrance of Nazi philosophy changed people and their lives. Set in Budapest this haunting study of human character is superbly acted and beautifully written. The musical score is unforgettable and compliments the film. English subtitles.DVD Review: Melancholy and moving
Summary: 4 Stars
This story of a love triangle set in Budapest before and during the Nazi invasion creates a strong sense of melancholy, even in its happy scenes. The sad, throbbing music haunted me for days after.
It's based rather loosely on a kernel of historic truth. In 1933, two Hungarians wrote a song called "Gloomy Sunday" in which the singer mourns the untimely death of a lover and contemplates suicide. It was recorded by Billie Holliday in 1941 and became a worldwide hit. It was dubbed the "Hungarian Suicide Song" and rumored to have inspired hundreds of people to end their lives. (For more information on this, go to [...]).
After a brief prelude set in the present day, the movie goes back to the 1930s and we meet restaurant owenr Laszlo Szabo and his lover, the dark-haired beauty Ilona played by Erika Marozsan. I'd never heard of this actress before but she is a stunning screen presence. Not only is she amazingly lovely (and the director takes care to dress her in different colors that accentuate her beauty and also to undress her) but she gives a compelling and moving performance.
Laszlo hires a moody pianist Andras to the restaurant. He too is instantly smitten with Ilona (who woudln't be?) and composes the song, "Gloomy Sunday" for her. Ilona is also attracted to him but she still loves Laszlo. After some painful negotiations, in which both men declare that half of Ilona is better than nothing, they settle down as a more or less stable menage-a-trois.
Enter Hans, a young German addicted to the restaurant's signature dish, a roulade of beef, ham and cheese. Predictably, he also falls for Ilona. When she gently rejects his naive offer of marriage, he jumps into the Danube but is rescued by Laszlo.
This turns out to be a bad move because three years later, Hans returns as an SS Colonel, determined to build his fortune by looting the possessions of the city's Jews, who include Laszlo. Hans is quite comfortable with the idea of sending thousands of Jews to Auschwitz but promises to protect Laszlo to repay the debt he owes him.
I won't go further into the plot or spoil the surprise ending.
In general, as the son of a Holocaust survivors whose grandparents and many other relatives perished in extermination camps, I find these kind of movies emotionally difficult. This story also has its heartbreak. It tries to redress the balance at the end by seeking a sort of justice -- but in my opinion fails to do so. I think we are supposed to feel some sort of satisfaction at the ending but it didn't work for me.
There are other aspects of this movie that are heavy-handed. It has a certain self-importance that is not entirely justified.
Still, I recommend it, most of all for the beautiful soundtrack and for the incandescent screen presence of Erika Marozsan.
DVD Review: An amazing achievement
Summary: 5 Stars
Gloomy Sunday is a fantastically made film with a wonderful mix of romance and drama. You really feel for the characters. It's a captivating movie with a nice song to accompany it.
I would highly recommend this sexy drama to anyone who enjoys a film that's well-directed with splendid acting and a great story.
Also, watch it in German with English subtitles. That's how all foreign movies should be viewed: in its original language.
DVD Review: German with English Subtitle
Summary: 5 Stars
The heroine is very likable. She's young and pretty. She has great breasts and she shows it off to the men when she flirts with them. She has two lover. One is young pianist and other is her boss at the restaurant. She plays with them like a summer love and with the World War II, the story's irony of suicides takes the pianist away and she's in tears and soon the war takes her other lover away to Jewish internment camp. She takes revenge on a twist ending that was a surprise. It will be very nice to watch this well played out movie with couple of friends. It's on the serious side to note, so, ask if nudity and violence is okay with your other viewers. DVD Review: "Gloomy Sunday
Summary: 5 Stars
"Gloomy Sunday"is one of the best movies I have ever seen. Thank you, Amazon, for making it available so I can play it as often as I like.
Description of Gloomy Sunday
Gloomy Sunday, winner of major German film awards and an art-house favorite that ran 70 weeks in Boston, hits all the right notes with its poignant, glowingly shot tale set in Budapest during the Holocaust and, like Schindler's List and The Pianist, filled with the passion and pain of that tragic era. The song itself - recorded by Billie Holliday and other greats - is the stuff of legend, reportedly having a fateful real-life impact similar to that shown on screen. But it's love's power that is ultimately at the heart of this acclaimed film. And from the opening scene to the deft twist ending, that power is extraordinary.The magic of music, the power of love, the evils of money, and the horror of genocide are the weighty themes tackled in Gloomy Sunday, a moving German-Hungarian film from director/co-writer Rolf Schubel. Released theatrically in 1999, it's said to have been "inspired by actual events," and it is true that the title song, written in the '30s by Rezso Seress (with Hungarian lyrics by Laszlo Javor), was a worldwide hit in its day; it's also a fact that the song has since been covered dozens of times, by artists ranging from Billie Holiday to Bjork and Elvis Costello. As for the suggestion that "Gloomy Sunday" was banned after being connected to multiple suicides, including the composer's, that's a bit more dicey. In any case, it plays a pivotal role in the love story set in Budapest during the ascension of the Third Reich and the onset of the Holocaust. Restaurant owner Laszlo (Joachim Krol) is in love with Ilona, his hostess (Erika Marozs?n), a dark-eyed beauty who plays men as easily as Horowitz plays "Chopsticks"; she loves him as well, but that doesn't mean she won't welcome Andras (Stefano Dionisi), the restaurant's new piano player, into her bed as well. Everyone seems to handle that with admirable equanimity, at least until the young German Hans (Ben Becker) inserts himself into the scene. Having been rejected by Ilona, Hans throws himself into the Danube, only to be rescued by Laszlo; when he assures his savior that "We'll meet again," we know that's not necessarily a good thing. Indeed, when Hans returns to Budapest, he's a Nazi colonel. Things get hairy in a hurry after that: Laszlo is Jewish, Ilona still doesn't want Hans, and we're left to discover if the German officer is either another Oskar Schindler or a heartlessly venal criminal loyal only to himself. All of this is played out against the backdrop of a lovely city, with costumes, art direction, and a palette of rich, warm colors creating a convincing period feel. The DVD has no bonus features, but a cursory search of the 'net will turn up multiple versions of the title tune, a sweet but melancholy melody that sounds, as one character puts it, "as if someone were saying something you don't want to hear" but know to be true. --Sam Graham
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