Thursday, April 23, 2015

Narcissus and Psyche (Gabor Body, 1980)


One of the towering masterpieces of the Hungarian cinema, along with 'Mephisto' and 'Satantango'. 
It's a 4 1/2 hour, avant-garde period piece, full of occult metaphor and bold formal experimentation. 
Using the myth of Narcissus and Echo as inspiration, Udo Kier plays the introspective romantic and man of reason, Laci Tóth (Nárcisz), incapable of consummating his love for his childhood friend, Erzsébet Lónyay (Psyché), due to his physical condition and his disdain for the Austro-Hungarian aristocracy, which Psyché is a part of, but from which she is shunned because of her gypsy ancestry.
Psyché's libertine ways seem to be a reference to Flaubert's 'Madame Bovary', which she conceals from Laci, but he tolerates it, preferring to lose himself in his studies and in scientific investigation. Her affairs with various lovers across Central Europe create a portrait of a society and a way of life in slow decline due to the advent of democratization and modernization.
Directed by Gábor Bódy, a seminal figure in the socialist-era Hungarian art scene, and who also was instrumental in producing some of the first video art in Hungary.

Watch here:

Part 1: https://mega.co.nz/#!q0pzSSJL!ngZprhUmSE6EsGP5gDvGLh6ADYFQyWsOV0tHWKOOp1Y


Part 2: https://mega.co.nz/#!H1hgEC5K!-WqI8hi-ysnur-Ri0b-ps-x9UAzxEKZvhivUeCkxSYg


Part 3: https://mega.co.nz/#!z5JUAT5b!ERAgtbKpx3NnUOUDa_0fMVVFx_rlmYKfiedzRh82vnA