Lázár

The Lázár family hides unpleasant truths. While Pista was told that his grandmother drowned and that his grandfather had simply fallen down the stairs, the official family register correctly notes that Sándor von Lázár died from a skull fracture while drunk and that Mária von Lázár’s drowning was a suicide. One night, a young Pista wakes from a nightmare and wanders through the house. He becomes transfixed by the pattern on a Turkish carpet illuminated by moonlight. Taking a pair of craft scissors, he goes to his parents’ bedroom. He stands in the doorway and witnesses them having sex, perceiving his parents as a monstrous, four-legged creature violently stabbing itself. When they’re finished, Lajos and Lilly notice him standing there silently, holding the scissors. Lilly gently takes him back to bed, while Lajos reflects on his difficulty with fatherhood and has a disturbing, momentary impulse to suffocate his son.

In 1931, one year before his daughter Eva von Lázár’s birth, Lajos returns home late one evening. Unhappy in his marriage, he decides he needs an “anaesthetic” and goes to the room of the governess, Bertha. He enters without knocking, and she performs oral sex on him. Suddenly, Lilly is in the room. She watches them silently for a moment and then glances at her reflection in a mirror before turning and leaving without a confrontation.

While driving their car, an Adler Diplomat, Lajos reflects that his relationship with Lilly has improved since she discovered his affair with Bertha. Following advice from Mr. Király, Lajos confessed his feelings to Lilly and dismissed Bertha. The family’s finances have also recovered, and they have bought a house in Budapest for the winter season. Lajos also reflects on his sister Ilona’s constant, anxious talk about the rising threat of the Nazi Party in Germany. Ilona and her husband, Kurt, fled Nazi persecution in Berlin due to her husband’s Jewish identity. Lajos privately holds conflicting views on Adolf Hitler, finding him ridiculous but also admiring his theatrical political talent. As he pulls out of a gas station, the attendant gives Lajos a Nazi salute. Lajos and Lilly are on their way to visit friends who live next to the filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, who famously produced propaganda films for the Nazis. Upon arriving at the villa, Lajos sees a deer at the edge of the woods and thinks about the approaching hunting season.

Ilona recalls her family’s harrowing escape from Austria. On the train from Vienna with Kurt and their children, they shared a compartment with the famed writer Zuckmayer. He warned them that border officials would strip-search them and that they were only permitted to carry 25 marks when exiting the country. Taking his advice, Ilona went to the train lavatory and threw their hidden money out the window, despite the painful sight of the banknotes fluttering in the wind. When the train stopped in Innsbruck, officers with swastika armbands boarded and escorted Zuckmayer off the train. At the border, the family was subjected to a humiliating search that lasted all night. Ilona was forced to undress completely for inspection by a female officer. Her children, including the 12-year-old Tony, were also made to strip. The next morning, their train finally crossed into the safety of Switzerland.

After his family moves to Budapest for the winter, Pista is isolated and bullied at his new school. In response, he begins a rigorous exercise routine. After half a year, his body registers the first changes. After two years of doing push-ups, he’s stronger than his peers. This physical change stops the abuse and alters his demeanor, making him appear more mature and mysterious. His new presence attracts a girl from a neighboring school named Matilda Telkes, who passes him a love letter. Overwhelmed, Pista reads it repeatedly but then loses it and searches everywhere for it. He writes back, initiating a silent romance in which they exchange letters every two days. Pista develops a ritual of memorizing Matilda’s letters before eating them. He becomes completely fixated on her, engaging in private acts while chanting her words and dreaming of her with a red peacock.

Feeling that letters are no longer enough, Pista meets Matilda and takes her hand. She pulls him along to the small park near her apartment, the place where she read all his letters. Unsure of what to do, they stand holding hands until they decide to simply continue doing so for the rest of the afternoon. This is the first time Pista has heard Matilda’s voice. When Pista walks her home at dusk, they again find themselves at a loss for how to say goodbye. Matilda asks Pista to say her name, and after he does, she pulls him in for a real kiss before quickly slipping inside her building.

After her mother, Mrs. Telkes, sees her kiss Pista, Matilda is locked in a small broom cupboard for the night. Through the keyhole, her mother delivers a terrifying religious-inflected sermon filled with allegorical warnings about men and relationships, leaving Matilda with nightmarish images. 

The next morning, Matilda recalls how she foolishly lied about her whereabouts, only to realize that her mother had seen everything from the window. Now understanding the danger, Matilda resolves to be more circumspect. She plans to limit her contact with Pista and eat his letters to hide them since the garbage bin is too risky and she can’t burn them in her room. When she leaves school intending to see Pista, however, she is intercepted by Dora, the family’s housekeeper. Dora comforts a distraught Matilda, explaining that her mother’s cruelty stems from a twisted form of love and worry. She advises Matilda that the safest course is to forget the boy.

After a week of forced separation, Pista is handed a letter by Matilda’s friend Eszter. The contents leave him devastated. Weeks pass, with Pista and Matilda suffering intensely. Pista endures sleepless nights and tormenting dreams, while Matilda, constantly chaperoned by Dora, is so consumed by heartache that she can’t eat. Matilda treasures Pista’s letters but fears that she’s forgetting his face and repeatedly begs the sympathetic Dora to let her see him. Mrs. Telkes believes that her lack of hunger is a manipulative strike. A despairing letter from Pista, revealing that he’ll be away until autumn, causes Matilda to crumble completely. Moved by the girl’s grief, Dora finally relents and arranges for them to meet one last time before his departure. Four days before he leaves, on a cold day, Matilda and Dora wait for Pista outside his school. He emerges, spots them, and approaches. Matilda goes to him, and they speak before sharing a brief, firm embrace.