The Toth Family (1969)
The Toth family resides in Northern Hungary. The couple has a daughter and a son, the latter a member of the armed forces. When his weary major is ordered to take a vacation, the son talks him into a visit to his family home. Comedy ensues when the Toths go overboard trying to make things pleasant for the visiting major in hopes of an easier life for their son the soldier.
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The Toth Family is an eccentric comedy about the titular family's travails while hosting a guest. It is 1942 and the beloved Toth son is fighting on the Russian front for the Nazis. They get a letter from him informing them that his commanding officer is coming to stay with them for two weeks to recuperate from battle. While they and the village they live in consider this to be a major honor, the visit turns into a trial that threatens the family's unity when it turns out that the major is incredibly thin skinned and possibly insane. On the surface this film is a comedy but there is a dark undercurrent that bubbles just below the surface. Zoltan Fabri, the director, keeps things light with freeze frames and jump cuts and the actors give performances that border on caricatures.
A comedy. or a drama reminding surrealism. a slice from Mitteleuropa. precise , refreshing, melancholic, pure Hungarian. a portrait of hospitality, selfishness, sacrifices , radical decision and family spirit. a film about spirit of a place. bitter-sweet. seductive, eccentric. usefull discover of small, simple universe, precise perspective about life.