Requiem (Zoltán Fábri, Hungary, 1982)

Edit Frajt

Requiem is a romantic drama from Hungary. It underpins its soft-erotic scenes with some flimsy political foundations.

Edit Frajt plays a young married woman living alone. Her husband long ago disappeared into prison on political charges. One day a young man knocks on her door to say he was a cellmate of her husband, who is now confirmed to be dead.

It turns out that the married man has been telling the youth all about Edit to pass the time in jail. Intimate tales about his lust for, clumsy wooing, and ultimate winning of, this beautiful and athletic young woman.

Edit urges the callow youth to repeat more and more of her husband's memories back to her. Soon not only is the interloper yearning to take the husband's place, Edit works herself into such a passion that she wants it too.

The intriguing theme of the doubtful identity of the returning prisoner has been used many times in various forms. This isn't a bad version, but suffers from a lack of sincerity and raw passion. Like a few Hungarian films of the era it seems to be using artiness and past political battles as an excuse for random just-about-wholesome soft-focus nudity. Which is not exactly a fault per se, especially with the right actress in the lead.

PORT.hu link