Sátántangó (1994)

Essential Viewing

Hungary/Germany/Switzerland

Feature Film

Director: Tarr Béla

Writers: Krasznahorkai László, Tarr Béla

Cinematographer: Medvigy Gábor

Composer: Vig Mihály

Cast: Vig Mihály, feLugossy László, Horváth Putyi, Albert Éva Almássy, Derzsi János, Szajki Irén, Járai Alfréd, Székely B. Miklós, Gaál Erzsébet, Bók Erika, Peter Berling

Tarr’s mammoth adaptation of Krasznahorkai’s novel – a beautiful, lugubriously paced piece of Hungarian miserabilism, told in 12 interweaving, overlapping parts, using a tango like structure, centring on a failing, decaying collective farm – is a film of incredible formal elegance, historical, allegorical weight, and, above all else, a film reeking of humanity in all its lowest, most egregious forms. Iain.Stott