Classics Film Marathon / Opening Ceremony: The Heiresses

Director: Márta Mészáros

written by Márta Mészáros, Ildikó Kóródy, DOP: Elemér Ragályi, music by Zsolt Döme, Szabolcs Fényes, Johann Strauss

Cast: Lili Monori, Isabelle Huppert (Erzsébet Kútvölgyi), Jan Nowicki (Sándor Oszter), Zita Perczel, Sándor Szabó

After the world hit of Nine Months, Márta Mészáros had the opportunity to shoot a film with another great French film star Isabelle Huppert, in a coproduction with Gaumont. The film, which is based on a true story, was the first where the director positions her typical “female theme” into a historical perspective.

1936. Sylvia a rich but sterile woman, marries Akos but needs an heir to inherit her father's money. She bribes Irene a Jewish girl to have a child by her husband. As bitterness grows between Akos and his wife he takes up with Irene and they have another child. In 1944 Sylvia turns Irene in for deportation and Akos is arrested.

Ticket: 1800 HUF

More programmes of the Budapest Classics Film Marathon in Urania National Filmtheatre.