Autumn Almanac
Béla Tarr, 1983, 120 min
“Considered a turning point from Tarr’s early social realism to his later precisely formal work, Autumn Almanac elliptically discloses the shifting relationships between five inhabitants of a house through a chain of theatrical tête-à-têtes. Their philosophical quandaries and deferred dreams coil into bitter circles of duplicitous manipulations that fuel eruptions of violence and underhanded exit strategies. Lit by expressionistic, lurid colours and followed by the mysterious gaze of a meandering, equally conspiratorial camera, the cursed spirits seem destined to reenact their base desires and vengeful patterns in a disorienting purgatory of opulent decay.” – Harvard Film Archive
Showing as part of our Close-Up on Béla Tarr programme