On the margin of the 39th Budapest Film Week: a conversation with Bela Tarr - the famous Hungarian filmdirector.
Budapest
Brigitta Bokor (Q):
Recently when people are talking about Hungarian films, they usually mention your name - Bela Tarr. How do you deal with the fact there was no Tarr movie at the 39th Budapest Film Week competition and even the opening film – which supposed to be your “The Man from London” -- was cancelled?
Béla Tarr (A):
In fact we would have liked to be part of the Week, however my opinion is you should not ask me about this subject. This is not our shame, but theirs… (The Film Week Committee)
Q: Did the ceremonial screening of the The Man from London a day before the Film Week started and its success give you a kind of compensation? Do you even need any compensation?
A: No, I don’t need it. I think, the screening went very well, the spirit was really high. But I don’t need any compensation. Why would I need it? No, this is dumb. The movie is going in the theaters; it is going really well, the opinions were really good and that`s it. I don’t need any compensation.
Q: The Man from London participated at the Cannes International Film Festival. After the official screening the critics gave a standing ovation, however many left from the audience according to the news.
A: It was exactly the opposite. In Cannes we had a screening for the press, which was kind of a waiting room at a Railway Station. All kinds of journalists did come and go, they peeked in, than they went to the next one, and they did take a look at that one too. Everyone was running around, and they just had a glance into the movies. Therefore, the single fact that some of them actually watched a movie until the end, can be considered as a little miracle. However, we had a neat, real first night show, too, in the Grand Lumier Salle, where we really received that standing ovation. They cheered us until we left the room; by the way that`s what I call an audience. Some people from the film business and many colleagues attended too, since it was the world premier of the movie. We should know, we cannot generalize journalists. They are different by their intelligence besides many other things. Lets take the French press for example, the reporter of the Nizza Metro, he fell asleep during the screening. However the reporter of the Le Monde followed the happenings of the movie really with a great attention. Therefore we cannot say that the press is unified and all the journalists are the same. The reporters are just as segmented as the audience. They differ by intelligence and sensibility. Therefore, I can say if something is divided that happens most likely because of the intelligence of the audience and not because of the movie. You cannot and you should not look at movies in general, because there are two types of movies. One is the type which looks at the audience as children, and entertains them with fairy tales; meanwhile it only cares about the box office and how to make money of them. And there is the other type which looks at the audience as adults, beautiful, educated, intelligent and sensible. The question is which type has a more democratic and humanistic behavior. I see the audience as an adult, smart, beautiful and sensible. I make for them movies like I do because I think they deserve them.
Q: What do you think those films participating at the 39th Budapest Film Week have the potential to succeed outside of Hungary?
A: I don’t know I did not see any movies from the Film Week, besides the one which was the work of Kornél Mundruczó (Delta), which I helped him. After what happened with all that fuss I did not think I had a place at the Film Week, and I did not feel right to show this in public. That is why I did not visit any of the screenings. However I think Delta has that potential to achieve major success outside of the Hungarian borders.
Q: Do you think this recent Film Week differed from the past festivals in any way? Did it have anything new to offer?
A: I do not have any idea about it, I wasn`t there.
Q: According to an interview at the Cannes International Film Festival you were asked if you would direct the same cold and pessimistic movies if you would not have a Hungarian nationality. And you replied like that: “First of all it is not the matter of nationality; it is about personal sensibility. On the other hand my movies are not pessimistic they are realistic. If they would be pessimistic we would have hung ourselves a long time ago. Our gesture of making movies shows that we are optimistic.” Therefore my question is: Did this optimism grow or shrink since that interview?
A: My positive spirit is still flying high which makes me think about new movies.
Q: Do you know what is going to be your new movie?
A: Yes. I know. However I would not like to talk about it yet.
Q: Who are those writers or filmmakers who have an impact on you?
A: Many pieces had an impact on me, most likely those where the writers had a personality, and they also had their own world. For example those filmmakers who you can cut a little cluster out of their film and you would be able to tell who made the movie even though you don’t know what the title of it is. If you show for example one slide from a Fellini-movie, anybody can tell you, that Fellini was the one who made that, however you only saw one single slide of it. I like those where the movie maker’s personality and worldview shows up strongly by their work. This part is lethal for me, I have to feel the maker`s spirit and how he saw the world.
Q: What do you think of the young Hungarian film makers? Which one you think has some serious potential, something Bela Tarr like?
A: I answered for this question before: Kornél Mundruczó. For sure. I don’t have any other comment about this subject.
Q: As I heard you will have a retrospective week from your movies in March at Los Angeles County Museum of Arts. They would screen your The Man from London on March 28..Are you willing to travel there? What do you think what message would you send to the audience in the USA on the current state of the Hungarian film?
A: My plan is to go, however I don’t know it yet for sure, since they are only planning my spring schedule right now. I will have a round-trip with The Man from London all over the world: from Europe, through the U.S.A to Mexico, and I will be really busy. Concerning the message I don’t think I can send a different one to the American audience through The Man from London, as I sent before to the rest.
by Brigitta Bokor