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Gloomy Sunday [2000] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
![Gloomy Sunday [2000] (REGION 1) (NTSC)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51vdLu5IjQL._SL160_.jpg)
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List Price: N/A
albania.lehi.co.uk Price: £9.15
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Starring: Joachim Król, Erika Marozsán, Stefano Dionisi, Ben Becker, András Bálint
Directed By: Rolf Schübel
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Binding: DVD
EAN: 0012569814264
Format: Closed-captioned
Label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2006-09-12
Running Time: 112
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: 2000
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Editorial Reviews:
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The magic of music, the power of love, the evils of money, and the horror of genocide are the weighty themes tackled in Gloomy Sunday, a moving German-Hungarian film from director/co-writer Rolf Schubel. Released theatrically in 1999, it's said to have been "inspired by actual events," and it is true that the title song, written in the '30s by Rezso Seress (with Hungarian lyrics by Laszlo Javor), was a worldwide hit in its day; it's also a fact that the song has since been covered dozens of times, by artists ranging from Billie Holiday to Bjork and Elvis Costello. As for the suggestion that "Gloomy Sunday" was banned after being connected to multiple suicides, including the composer's, that's a bit more dicey. In any case, it plays a pivotal role in the love story set in Budapest during the ascension of the Third Reich and the onset of the Holocaust. Restaurant owner Laszlo (Joachim Krol) is in love with Ilona, his hostess (Erika Marozsán), a dark-eyed beauty who plays men as easily as Horowitz plays "Chopsticks"; she loves him as well, but that doesn't mean she won't welcome Andras (Stefano Dionisi), the restaurant's new piano player, into her bed as well. Everyone seems to handle that with admirable equanimity, at least until the young German Hans (Ben Becker) inserts himself into the scene. Having been rejected by Ilona, Hans throws himself into the Danube, only to be rescued by Laszlo; when he assures his savior that "We'll meet again," we know that's not necessarily a good thing. Indeed, when Hans returns to Budapest, he's a Nazi colonel. Things get hairy in a hurry after that: Laszlo is Jewish, Ilona still doesn't want Hans, and we're left to discover if the German officer is either another Oskar Schindler or a heartlessly venal criminal loyal only to himself. All of this is played out against the backdrop of a lovely city, with costumes, art direction, and a palette of rich, warm colours creating a convincing period feel. The DVD has no bonus features, but a cursory search of the 'net will turn up multiple versions of the title tune, a sweet but melancholy melody that sounds, as one character puts it, "as if someone were saying something you don't want to hear" but know to be true. --Sam Graham
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Gloomy Sunday
Comment: DON'T BE PUT OFF BY THE TITLE - which will put many off the film, this is one beautiful movie. Probably best to see on the big screen to become totally enveloped in the drama, but still on the small screen a film for the 'curled up on the sofa with a bottle of wine and a box of tissues', but it is still a wonderful 'feel good' film.
The genuine love of the characters, so believable, the tradegy of the story and the superb ending. I personally found the music which is the pivot of the tale is of less interest than the relationships of the main characters.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An unforgettable, achingly beautiful masterpiece of cinema
Comment: Gloomy Sunday (Ein Lied von Liebe und Tod) is a hauntingly beautiful gem of a movie, a unique blending of romance, drama, and tragedy all compressed under the oppressive weight of history. This film lives and breathes, transporting you back to 1930s Budapest with beautiful cinematography, a fascinatingly brooding musical score, and the most human of characters. Released in 1999, I have no idea why this German-Hungarian film took so long to make its way to American audiences or why it was not rewarded with an Oscar for Best Foreign Film. Those of us fortunate enough to have seen it have certainly appreciated it. Just asks the folks in Boston, who kept the film running for a record-breaking 70 weeks in 2004-2005. If you have a heart and soul, this film will touch and haunt them both for a long, long time.
The title refers to a song written by one of the characters, but the historical reference is to a song by Hungarian composer Rezso Seress which became known, especially in America, as the Hungarian Suicide Song. Supposedly, many souls took their own lives after basking in the emotional power of this melody, but there is virtually no corroboration for the stories that have grown up around it. (One should keep in mind that the era of the 1930s was a time of worldwide economic depression, in which the Nazi menace cast its foreboding shadow over Europe and eventually the entire world.) In the film, Gloomy Sunday is basically a love song, written by a pianist named Andras (Stefano Dionisi) for the absolutely captivating Ilona (Erika Marozsan). Ilona is the hostess of an elegant restaurant in which Andras finds employment as an in-house pianist. He falls for the dark-eyed beauty just as Laszlo (Joachim Krol), the restaurant owner did, and the three soon develop a strange but very close relationship. Jealousy sometimes arises, as Ilona shares herself with both me, but both Andras and Laszlo would rather share her than lose her. I should point out here that Ilona in no way comes across as a loose or in any way disrespectable woman. She's an angelic creature, a woman with whom men constantly fall in love, including a shy, awkward German youth named Hans Wieck (Ben Becker), who leaves Budapest broken-hearted but returns several years later as an important Nazi colonel.
Laszlo, Andras, and Ilona grow ever closer over these same years. Andras finds instant fame as the composer of Gloomy Sunday yet still struggles to understand just what his song is trying to say. When he despairs over the staggering numbers of suicidal men and women who left life serenaded by his mysteriously cursed song, Laszlo and Ilona are there to rescue him emotionally. Their mutual bond is eternal and true. All too soon, however, the trio's strangely enchanted world begins to come apart. The restaurant is still prospering and "the song" is still being played every night by popular demand, but the arrival of the Nazis in Hungary casts an increasingly foreboding shadow on the lives of these incredibly captivating characters. Fear takes on a palpable presence in their lives as Jews are rounded up and transported to concentration camps. Only Hans affords them, especially Laszlo (for he is Jewish), any kind of safety net in this oppressive and increasingly dangerous environment.
The dogs of greed, betrayal, and pure evil inevitably come to have their day, making for an emotionally jarring final half hour of this film. The subtlety with which the most painful blows strike only makes the tragedy all the more intense - and instructive. That subtlety carries over to the ultimate conclusion, which could not have been presently more effectively.
I could go on and on about the unsurpassed strengths and natural beauty of this film, but words can never communicate my true passion for this film. Gloomy Sunday approaches cinematic perfection, in my humble opinion, and I would urge any and every person to experience its emotional power for himself/herself.
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