Yet another Hungarian film success in Cannes

The dialogues fit the contexts perfectly as if the lines were scripted from real-life situations. The film itself is a little bit Dogma-styled, as the only music heard is the music the characters are listening to. Their struggle with financial problems and time management seems real. The setting is created carefully and resembles a typical Hungarian home. The movie is realistic, almost naturalistic, although it is not a documentary, but a drama.

One Day depicts a typical 36 hours of a Hungarian mother. A lot of tension is squeezed into those hours which makes the film brilliant.

It is not about the usual image of parenthood full of happiness and smiling, but it shows that part as well. Being a mother is not a sweet dream sprinkled with laughs, the reality is not flawless – it is hard work with a few joyful moments good to remember.

Zsófia Szilágyi is not a mother herself, but she gained inspiration from the mothers around her. She shared in an interview to MNF that the core concept of the movie is based on an e-mail from a friend of her. This friend wrote down her timetable in detail indicating all the small tasks she has to deal with as a working mother. After that Szilágyi started to “expand her data collection” by speaking and spending time with families more and more to depict them accurately. The film was born, and many Hungarian reviews say she met this goal.

What do international reviews say?

According to Cineuropa “with hyper realism, One Day skilfully conveys alienation of parental life” and “all the classic panics of family life are revisited to perfection.”

In their summary, they praise multiple aspects of the movie: the acting, the shooting, the “sense of context” and “directorial prowess.”

The Hollywood Reporter sheds a spotlight on the hand-held style “that doesn’t stop assaulting the senses.” They think, however, that the movie is way too painfully honest for its audience and their vision is not about hitting box-offices, but “Szilágyi is clearly a name to watch.” THR’s standpoint is that the movie is so realistic about family life that the viewers can put themselves in the couple’s shoes, which, in this case, may evoke negative, almost depressing feelings in the potential audience.

Screendaily finds One Day though being about every-day life, “ an unexpectedly powerful drama.” Screendaily states One Day is a convincingly realist and “deeply relevant film that manages to turn 36 hours in the life of a worn-out mother-of-three into a small but powerful drama.” They see the after-life of the work on the bright side and propose further success and festival invitations for the movie.

One Day comes to Hungarian cinemas in this autumn.

Photo: MTI/EPA/Franck Robichon

Source: by Éva Stölkler – guest author