Another pianist, more Nazis

I went this afternoon -- tonight I'm back at the l.n.c.b. -- to see the German film Gloomy Sunday, a tale of romantic obsession set against the backdrop of the German occupation of Badapest. With its heartbreakingly beautiful star, Erika Marozsán, and a plot that focuses partly on a title song with the supposed power to drive its listeners to suicide and partly on a sensual menage a trois, the film has a touch of magic realism. Recalling both the wartime milieu and moral ambiguity of The Pianist -- if it weren't for the fact that the film was released in 1999, you might think that it was a blatant imitation -- and the setting and sexuality of The Unbearable Lightness of Being, the film is an effective romantic thriller. By the end, though, I'd had quite enough repetitions of that title song.

Unfamiliar with the stunning actress, I searched for her on the internet, and didn't come up with much. But this interview (translated) raises the interesting point that her character didn't even appear in the novel on which the film was based.