In Lili Horvát’s elliptical and suspenseful thriller, a Hungarian neurosurgeon, Marta (awesome newcomer Natasa Stork) has something on the brain. She’ll do anything to be near peer and soul-mate, Janos (Viktor Bodó), even leaving her high-powered job in the States to join his shabby hospital in Budapest. She says their romance began at an international conference; he says they’ve never met. One of them is lying. But why?
Right at the start, we’re presented with a stanza from the Sylvia Plath poem, Mad Girl’s Love Song. Writer/director Horvát takes Plath’s ideas in a new direction. The madness of boys is a crucial theme.
Marta has the bluest eyes and the palest cheeks. Like a freshly-painted statue of the virgin Mary, she’s nothing if not vivid. She circles Janos. She’s also deft with her scalpel and tough on sexist berks. Imagine Fatal Attraction’s Alex crossed with Grey’s Anatomy’s Cristina Yang.
Rhapsodic tracking shots, in the heart of Budapest, generate thrills. That said, the city never looks quaint. Janos (a sort of Oliver Sacks figure, determined to blur the line between science and fiction) has strong views on the metaphorical importance of “ugly buildings”. Let’s just say Horvát – on so many levels - pays attention to the capital’s ugly side.
The irony-drenched ending is perfect: playful, as well as disturbing. The lesson some will take from Marta’s quest: if at first you don’t succeed, spy, spy and spy again.
95mins, cert 15, Curzon Home Cinema
