Márta sucht János

Ever since I heard the name of this film I'd been intrigue. Although I'm not a huge fan of films with long titles this somehow seems to fit perfectly. This is one of those films where is better to enter the film without knowing too much about it. One of the few good things about the pandemic is you get to discover this types of films.

I should have loved a thunderbird instead; At least when spring comes they roar back again. I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead. (I think I made you up inside my head.)

• Sylvia Plath, Mad Girl's Love Song

Márta, an American neurosurgeon, is on a bridge in Budapest waiting for the love of her life to appear at the appointed time. She has given up her job, patients, kids, and husband to be with this man. He doesn't show.

"I've never seen you before," he says when Márta tracks him down at a local hospital (he is also a brain surgeon). Still, she doesn't let it go. Márta is Carrie Fisher in Blues Brothers level obsessed. She gets a job at his hospital and starts to woo him again. She is certain he will remember. Or perhaps it is all in her head. "A brain is like a city. There are abandoned buildings that can be sacrificed if need be, to save the whole."

Cerebral in more ways than one, this female driven film is an intriguing brain tickler. There are many possibilities as to what drove Márta to Hungary and where she is going from here. Her love interest is seen with another woman of course, so there's that, but thankfully the film goes much deeper than this tired old trope. It delves into Márta's mental state. She has done something like this before in a previous romance. "I wanted something so bad I lost myself" Márta tells her psychiatrist, and yet you don't get to be a brain surgeon without having a healthy intuition. She struggles to trust herself.

There are some amazing scenes including of Márta and the other doctor following each other across Budapest on different sides of the street. There are fascinating twists and turns.

This film does a fairly good job at drawing a moody, atmospheric european cinema not unlike Krzysztof Kieslowsk's works. The streets and bridges of Budapest as the story's setting, the score, the camera work and direction all become together to enchant us as viewers in a somewhat magical mystery-romance piece.

The storyline and the narrative though, is when the film fails to keep up with those virtues. The main character falls in love with a man who does not appear to recognise the face of the former and thus the mystery commences with a series of stalkings, conversations and events which lead to the upfilting of the mystery. But when that uplifting happens, it's just not merely interesting or impactful to leave its mark. The film could have definitely been much stronger had it had a deeper, more detailed and structured script.

Nothing about the events portrayed in this movie was believable and the ending was just plain silly, but it had a steady, chill vibe and the lead actress had a very captivating screen presence.

Recommended if you just want to relax for 90 mins, but don't expect anything deep.

My greatest respect for this very sensible story, for the dramaturgy, and for reminding me of the silent perseverence of love! The lead actress, Natasa Stork, is just brilliant and lovely; excellent choice!