When Judit Elek heard some puzzling if not outright disturbing stories about the daily life of girls and young women in the Hungarian provinces, she immediately travelled to one village to find out more about these occurrences. With that, a journey several years long commenced, during which Elek gained the people’s trust, and finally made what she considers to be her most important work, while irrevocably losing a piece of herself in the process.
And what started as an investigation specifically into the plights and dreams of the younger generation, turns into a pars pro toto panorama of People’s Hungary in various shades of grey – the economic reforms of ’68 and the cultural liberties supposedly connected to them certainly hadn’t reached vast parts of the nation… A Commonplace Story is a film of solidarity and compassion more than indignation and anger, of listening more than talking, generous and curious, gritty, earthy, tender.
Film details
- Country of production
- Hungary
- Year
- 1975
- Festival edition
- IFFR 1976
- Length
- 104"
- Medium/Format
- -
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