Signis

The Door

(JPEG)

Hungary, 2011, Helen Mirren, Martina Geddek, Directed by Istvan Szabo

It would be great to be able to recommend this film more eagerly than I can. Not that audiences won’t enjoy it or find it interesting, especially the performances. But, it is a Hungarian production (based on a celebrated Hungarian novel), directed by one of Hungary’s outstanding directors, so admired for his films like Mephisto, Colonel Redl and Sunshine, but it has been made in English. Whatever happened between the original screenplay writing in Hungarian and the English translation, it is often quite studied, artificial or unreal, and much of it is delivered as if the film were being dubbed (which, probably, some of the performances have been).

So, that is the major problem.

The other problem is the development of the characters and their motivations and behaviour. The Door is not a particularly long film, but might have benefited by the inclusion of some more sequences that would have illuminated the characters.

That being said, what is that we actually have?

This is a story of the 1960s-1970s, people living under strict Communist rule, with memories of World War II (and anti-Semitic behaviour of the times). And the door itself? It is the door to a dwelling where an older woman lives by herself, not letting anyone in, with neighbours suspicious of what she might have taken from a Jewish exiled family during the war. In point of fact, they are both wrong and right.

The woman, Emerenc, is a servant, a dedicated, hardworking servant whose washing, cleaning, cooking, are valued by her employers - though she is something of an inverted snob, committed to working class values, and discriminating as to whom she will work for - ‘I don’t work just for anyone, you know’.

She does accept the approach of a former teacher, Magda, who wants time to write a novel. She and her husband appreciate Emerenc’s work and meals but finds that she will enter their home at will, quite commanding in her manner, while always referring to the husband as ‘the master’.

The two women develop a strong friendship, bewildering much of the time to Magda, a relationship that Emerenc would never define as friendship. Here is the strength of the film, the relationship between the two women, especially when the husband is hospitalized. However, there are times of crisis, anger and apologies. Gradually, Emerenc does reveal so much of her story to Magda, even allowing her to come into her house.

Emerenc, sweeping snow from the footpaths constantly and diligently, becomes ill. This precipitates a crisis for Emerenc and how Magda will deal with it, especially as she wins a government award for her novel, goes to a reception to receive he prize and praises Emerenc on national television (much to Emerenc’s disgust).

There are other emotional sub-plots, especially when Emerenc waits for a visit from someone from her past - and is angry when this does not eventuate. Magda also visits the town where Emerenc came from, learning more about her servant.

The key advertising point for The Door is that it stars Helen Mirren. Mirren can be Queen Elizabeth, giving an Oscar-winning performance as the Queen. Mirren, as Emerenc, can be a hard-headed, more tender-hearted than she communicates, hard working, rather drab looking servant. She embodies her roles and she makes Emerenc one of those strangely unforgettable characters. Martina Gedek, prominent in many German films like The Lives of Others, also gives a strong performance but also serves as a sounding board for Helen Mirren.

Allowing for the limitations for the sometimes stolid dialogue, stolidly delivered (but not by the two women), The Door is still an arresting cinema experience.

Peter Malone