Passport

Colour, 35mm
Hungary, 2000, 72 min
Section: East of the West

Synopsis

A drunk named Józsi and his old maid of a sister live on a country farm in eastern Hungary. Without his knowledge she writes a love letter to the daughter of a distant acquaintance in Ukraine and puts his name to it. She hopes that the prospect of a better life in Hungary will entice the girl to marry her brother. Jelizavyeta becomes a Józsi’s bride and a Ukrainian truck loaded with her trousseau transports her to her new home. It seems as though Jelizavyeta fits well into her new family and that they’ll live happily ever after, but the fun doesn’t last long. Her life soon becomes mere drudgery, filled with her ever-blasted and ever-jealous husband’s constant scenes, and the bossiness of a sister-in-law who even wants to take possession of their only daughter, Anechka. When Anechka is five, life with Józsi is worse than ever – the girl would rather hide in the doghouse than suffer her father’s drunken manifestations of love. Jelizavyeta is secretly planning their escape: overland on foot until they reach Ukraine. It’s just that the girl doesn’t have a passport. In spite of its tragic subject matter the film qualifies generically as an absurd piece.

About the director

Péter Gothár (b. 1947), theatre and film director, was head director of Theatre Gergely Csiki in Kaposvár from 1979 to 1992, and has directed at the József Katona Theatre in Budapest since 1993. Filmography: Priceless Day (1979, Ajándék ez a nap), Time Stands Still (1981, Megáll az idő), Time (1985, Idő van), Real America (1987, Tiszta Amerika), Melodrama / Love and Freedom (1990, Melodráma), The Outpost (1994, A részleg), Váska Easeoff (1995, Haggyállógva Vászka).