Sunset
november 2018
“The horror of the world lies behind these infinitely pretty things."
Sunset (Napszállta) is the latest work by Laszló Nemes (Son of Saul). Its style and cinematography are identical to this latter work, as for over two hours we see the world through the eyes of Irisz Leiter (Juli Jakab). The daughter of the one-time owners of the prestigious Leiter Hats in Budapest, she returns to her native city when it was still a bustling gem of the Austro-Hungarian Empire—just prior to the outbreak of WWI.
Leiter’s parents perished in a fire at the very store she now returns to work in, herself a highly trained milliner. Despite having been her home as a little girl, the place, its people, and owner are all strangers to her. And further mysteries begin to pile up. The film plods on in somewhat slow but “busy” fashion. It is dim, murky, and confusing—just as it is to Irisz. Nothing really seems to make sense as we follow her on her quest to find answers, one room after another, one confrontation after another, with glimpses of odd characters and whispering throughout. Irisz, stony-faced and determined, makes her way through this maze seemingly unable to digest one intrigue before being thrust into yet another.
Despite the jumble of seemingly nonsensical and hurried activity throughout, one thing is crystal clear: Leiter Hats and its “pretty things” are a thin and quickly deteriorating facade to a far grimmer world.
And the “pretty things” are not just the exquisite hats created for the visiting Habsburgs and other aristocrats. The allure and beauty of aristocratic whims shown to us are continuously intertwined with the dirt, the poor, the “nobodies” in a manner that makes you end up recoiling more at the sight of the former than the latter as you see how plainly these luxuries are built on the backs of and in spite of the suffering of the other. There is no beauty here, only shallow, callous emptiness—a shell of an “empire” ready to crumble.
Irisz meets the brother she never knew she had; he is now an outcast living as a murderer among other “undesirables,” including those who presumably did not conform nor subscribe to Vienna’s wishes and precepts. And it is here that the story begins to finally take form. Irisz is torn, confused, and horrified. But an uninvited trip to Vienna (posing herself as a “pretty thing”) gives her the final answers she seeks.
We see Irisz last in the trenches of WWI. The facade has slipped away, the shell has broken, and reality has finally overtaken the fabricated fantasy we had been continuously shown—a fantasy so meticulously represented by Nemes’ constant parade of those “glorious” hats.
The ‘glorious” Empire is gone. And Irisz has found her place, her family, and her purpose at last.
Leiter’s parents perished in a fire at the very store she now returns to work in, herself a highly trained milliner. Despite having been her home as a little girl, the place, its people, and owner are all strangers to her. And further mysteries begin to pile up. The film plods on in somewhat slow but “busy” fashion. It is dim, murky, and confusing—just as it is to Irisz. Nothing really seems to make sense as we follow her on her quest to find answers, one room after another, one confrontation after another, with glimpses of odd characters and whispering throughout. Irisz, stony-faced and determined, makes her way through this maze seemingly unable to digest one intrigue before being thrust into yet another.
Despite the jumble of seemingly nonsensical and hurried activity throughout, one thing is crystal clear: Leiter Hats and its “pretty things” are a thin and quickly deteriorating facade to a far grimmer world.
And the “pretty things” are not just the exquisite hats created for the visiting Habsburgs and other aristocrats. The allure and beauty of aristocratic whims shown to us are continuously intertwined with the dirt, the poor, the “nobodies” in a manner that makes you end up recoiling more at the sight of the former than the latter as you see how plainly these luxuries are built on the backs of and in spite of the suffering of the other. There is no beauty here, only shallow, callous emptiness—a shell of an “empire” ready to crumble.
Irisz meets the brother she never knew she had; he is now an outcast living as a murderer among other “undesirables,” including those who presumably did not conform nor subscribe to Vienna’s wishes and precepts. And it is here that the story begins to finally take form. Irisz is torn, confused, and horrified. But an uninvited trip to Vienna (posing herself as a “pretty thing”) gives her the final answers she seeks.
We see Irisz last in the trenches of WWI. The facade has slipped away, the shell has broken, and reality has finally overtaken the fabricated fantasy we had been continuously shown—a fantasy so meticulously represented by Nemes’ constant parade of those “glorious” hats.
The ‘glorious” Empire is gone. And Irisz has found her place, her family, and her purpose at last.
Have a movie—Hungarian only please—you want reviewed?
Email us at zealaco@gmail.com!
