One Day – Egypt Nap (2018)

Directed by: Zsófia Szilágyi | 99 minutes | drama | Actors: Zsófia Szamosi, Leó Füredi, Ambrus Barcza, Zorka Varga-Blaskó, Márk Gárdos, Annamária Láng, Éva Vándor, Károly Hajduk

The Hungarian film ‘One Day’ (‘Egy nap’) takes place in about 36 hours: a day in which the life of the lead actress Anna could take a different turn, if only she were not so busy…

Anna is the mother of three children, a toddler (m), a toddler (f) and a son in the upper years of primary school. Her husband is absorbed in his work as a lawyer, the apartment is small and full and everything is wrong with it and at work she has just indicated that she would like to work more. The family can use the extra money, because the bank is also difficult with regard to the mortgage. Anna is such a typical example of a person who is lived; the rare moment that she can smoke a cigarette on the balcony, for example, is again interrupted by a child demanding attention.

‘One Day’ is a sequence of everyday events. Children take a bath, the dishwasher is unloaded, the children have to be picked up and brought to school, daycare, ballet class and there is a performance at school. In between, groceries have to be bought, where not too much money can be spent. Of course someone will also get sick and traffic will not be easy. We follow Anna closely and sympathize with her when she is called names in the street – even though she really parked wrong. Does that sound boring? Nothing could be further from the truth: despite the banalities on the screen, you remain captivated. This is largely due to the hyper-realistic portrayal of the events in the film. The acting is very convincing, which is especially noticeable with the children, with whom you never have the idea that they are pretending.

The extra dimension is in the fact that we know that Anna has the idea that her husband is cheating. Whether that is the case, leaves debuting film director Zsófia Szilágyi in the middle, but it is clear that such a train of thought eats away at you, without you actually having time to think about it. Incidentally, the filmmaker slowly reveals this secret, because she starts her film with a conversation between Anna’s husband and the alleged ‘other’ woman, after which Anna sets off with that woman. It remains unclear what exactly the relationship between the women is.

Although ‘One Day’ does not tell a unique story, the realistic rendering, in combination with the filmmaker’s eye for detail, the small endearing moments and the surprising ending, make it a must.