Katalin Varga (2009)

Directed by: Peter Strickland | 82 minutes | drama, thriller, crime | Actors: Hilda Péter, Norbert Tankó, Enikö Szabó, Raluca Sava, Florin Vidamski, Zsolt Páll, Tibor Pálffy, Fatma Mohamed, László Mátray, Sebastian Marina, Szilvia Majláth, Attila Kozma, Melinda Kántor, Andrea Ga Giacomili

Climax, black screen and then the credits. Just a simple black background, white letters and the most remarkable thing: no music at all. And yet you sit in the room throughout the credits in a tense anticipation for more..

British director Peter Strickland has done well with his debut film ‘Katalin Varga’. Worldwide attention, a prize at the Berlin Film Festival and a nomination for a European Film Award. It also certainly appeals to the imagination that Strickland financed the film with a legacy and realized it in just three weeks of shooting. What do you mean intrinsically motivated?

When Katalin’s (Hilda Péter) husband finds out that he is not the father of ‘their son’ Orban (Norbert Tanko), he firmly rejects the child and mother. For Katalin, this is the time to deal with the demons of her past that have been ignored for so long. And so begins a journey of revenge through the rugged landscape of the Romanian Carpathians. Son and mother stroll through the inhospitable landscape by horse and carriage. After Varga has completed her first reckoning, the hunt for her begins. But with perseverance, she continues her journey for the ultimate final reckoning.

Katalin’s rapist, Antal (Tibor Palffy), is an attractive and hardworking man. He has a house and a loving wife, with whom he has built a peaceful life. Interesting scenes arise when Katalin and her son temporarily move into the farmhouse. Especially because Antal no longer remembers her. For example, there is a beautiful scene in a boat on the lake, in which Katalin gives Antal and his wife a detailed account of her rape. All kinds of different emotions and interests are mixed in a surrealistic tension: Antal’s ignorant wife shows compassion; Katalin plays a dark game as part of her revenge; Antal realizes who is sitting opposite him and becomes more and more restless . As on several moments in the film, the half English and half Greek director knows how to add a dimension to the story with the surroundings, the music and the camera work. When Katalin starts talking about the animals in the forest, the scene even takes on the allure of a dark fairy tale. And because that fact is so beautiful, that theme could perhaps have been worked out better at other moments in the film.

The director does not tell a black and white story in which the rapist is purely evil and the victim is only pathetic. It is also not the case that the sympathy goes all out to Katalin or to Antal. No, there is room for interpretation by the viewer. You can make your own judgment. Yet the film has unjustly caused commotion among certain audiences. Strickland was accused of provocation for portraying the rapist Antal as a nice man, feminists accused Katalin of abuse and accused him of misrepresenting the Hungarian minority in Romania. Result: plenty of attention for this debut film.

Because Strickland replaces the dialogue with sound and music in many places, the musical accompaniment is especially suggestive in the beginning of the film. A nice and artistic addition, but at certain moments the images spoke for themselves and the sound design was a bit too bombastic in the foreground. He would certainly have achieved the same effect with radio silence, as it did during the credits of the film. Still, the sound design earned a Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. Rather, you would expect Hilda Péter to be awarded for her beautiful portrayal of Katalin Varga.

‘Katalin Varga’ is almost a dark fairy tale. She knows how to surprise, move and disconcert you. A versatile arthouse road movie with a horse and carriage.