Pál Erdöss – Adj király katonát AKA The Princess (1982)
Pal Erdoss’s ”Princess” is an ironically titled film if ever there was one; its heroine is addressed as ”princess” only once during the course of the story, and then by a weak-kneed, apologetic boyfriend who has failed to protect her from rape. Jutka (Erika Ozsda) is anything but the privileged creature of the title. A tough, lonely teen-age girl who has come to Budapest to work in a textile mill, Jutka becomes the focus of Mr. Erdoss’s examination of courtship rituals, teen-age mores and motherhood.
”The Princess,” with a delicate look despite the deliberately grainy black and white cinematography, has a realistic, even documentarylike tone. But it has also been well shaped by Mr. Erdoss, and its details are keenly observed. As Jutka, who turns 16 years old during the course of the story, begins her job at the mill and moves into a factory workers’ hostel, the film explores these settings without losing sight of its heroine. As played by Miss Ozsda, Jutka holds the audience’s empathy and interest even when she is at her most uncommunicative and unyielding.
Having been raised by now-deceased foster parents and spent time in a state institution, Jutka goes to look for her real mother, and takes such an accusatory tone that the reunion turns disastrous. The young woman’s longing for a mother is highlighted even more emphatically when Jutka’s friend, Zsuzsa, gives birth to an illegitimate daughter. Jutka becomes the child’s only champion, insisting that the baby not be relegated to a fate like her own. Her impassioned defense of the child is Jutka’s most deeply felt emotion during the course of the story.
The film also follows her progress as she learns more about men – one suitor tries to seduce her, as he has other mill girls, by luring her to his parents’ house and feeding her his mother’s chicken. ”It’s only the kids from the country who buy such stuff,” he says disparagingly of Jutka’s outfit, instead offering her a sweatshirt with the Eiffel Tower on it; this is much more sophisticated and authentic, he explains. Jutka is always suspicious, particularly at times like these, but she’s also secretly susceptible to such advances. By the end of the film, she has lost much of this innocence the hard way.
Mr. Erdoss makes this a credible portrait, having interviewed many female workers from the provinces as part of his research for an earlier documentary. But he also creates an engrossing drama, and never lets the well-drawn background details interfere with his characters. This is a very successful first feature, and one that establishes Mr. Erdoss as a director of considerable subtlety and promise.
https://nitro.download/view/55905EC8CA571FD/Adj_kiraly_katonat_-_Pal_Erdoss_(1982)_TVRip_VO.avi
https://nitro.download/view/EA97B1DCB3165B2/Adj_király_katonát_-_Pál_Erdöss_(1982)_TVRip_VO.srt
Language(s):Hungarian
Subtitles:English