During the snowstorm my crap overpriced DIRECTV went out
but thankfully I was not bereft of indoor entertainment since my ROKU was up
and streaming. Being homebound I decided I would have stamina and alcohol to
watch one of the foreign movies in my queue. I picked Gloomy Sunday or better
known (or not) as Ein Lied von Liebe und Tod. The Movie is set in Budapest in the thirties and is a love
story of Jewish restaurant owner Laszlo, the beautiful waitress Ilona and newly
hired the pianist András. Both men
fall in love with Ilona and form a delicate and erotic ménage à trios and Ilona
inspires András to write his only composition. The aptly named song, of Gloomy Sunday is initially loved
but then the melancholy melody triggers off a chain of suicides. A few years later their love triangle is
interrupted when the German army invades Hungary. This event brings back Hans, a former patron who was also in
unrequited love with Ilona. He’s
now a high-ranking officer of Third Reich and becomes a pivotal character in
the lover’s future. The movie had
me spellbound, it was complicated, sensitive and surprising and I’m planning on
watching it again.