The Lady from Constantinople

1969 [HUNGARIAN]

Drama

4
IMDb Rating 7.0/10 10 131 131

woman director

Plot summary

Persuaded by the janitor's wife, a lively, but lonesome old woman, who is only attached to the world through her cherished objects and memories, decides to exchange her two-room apartment for a smaller one. For a little while her everyday life is changed. She meets and entertains new people every day.

Director

Judit Elek Photo
Judit Elek

Top cast

Itala Békés Photo
Itala Békés as Iker
Hédi Temessy Photo
Hédi Temessy as Lakáscserélõ
Ferenc Némethy Photo
Ferenc Némethy as Lakáscserélõ
Ági Margitai Photo
Ági Margitai as Fiatal feleség
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
676.03 MB
1280*690
Hungarian 2.0
NR
us  fr  
25 fps
1 hr 13 min
Seeds ...
1.23 GB
1920*1036
Hungarian 2.0
NR
us  fr  
25 fps
1 hr 13 min
Seeds 5

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by ricardojorgeramalho 7 / 10

The Island

A product of the new wave of Hungarian cinema, this debut work by director Judit Elek is an almost enigmatic film.An elderly woman lives alone, in a two-bedroom apartment in Budapest, full of family memories of an opulent past. But she lives surrounded by neighbors, crowded in decrepit apartments, rented by the room, where old people die, forgotten by everyone, and are buried on the roofs of the buildings (in a funeral scene, totally surreal).She then goes on an epic adventure, through the city, looking for a smaller apartment, where she can be quiet, comfortable and above all, away from the chaos that surrounds her, from the memories of the past, to the nightmares of the present.The most famous scene in the film, in which a crowd of people accumulates, visiting the apartment, until chaos ensues, at a party, which lasts for hours, which many compare to Tati, but, for me, it evokes Fellini, for the surrealist absurdity of the situation, the dialogues, the variety of characters that visit the house, the absolute chaos that ensues, to the point that the hostess abandons it, until things finally calm down and she can return, restoring order to the apartment, now almost empty.It's a film with beautiful moments, but a little hermetic. It could be summarized in the story of an elderly woman, in search of peace, escaping the chaotic urban hustle and bustle of Budapest in the 60s.Is it enough, as a movie script? Judit Elek seems to believe so.Is this epic journey an allegory, of the decadence of Hungarian society, at the time, when compared to the luxurious harmony of the old days, before the war?Perhaps. For me it would give much more sense to the film.
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