Film: Sátántangó
Director: Béla Tarr
Country: Hungary
Released: February 1994
Runtime: 439 minutes
Genre: Slow Cinema
Studio: Társulás Film
Influenced: Gus Van Sant, Lav Diaz, Cristian Mungiu, Roy Andersson, Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Based on the 1985 postmodern novel of the same name by author László Krasznahorkai, Sátántangó is the sixth feature film by Hungarian director Béla Tarr. Both the novel and the film are composed of 12 chapters and both are also structured in the form of steps forwards and backwards in time, hence the title which translates as Satan's Tango. The tango is not only a dance associated with seduction and sin, reflecting the film's themes of temptation and moral decay, but it also reflects the way that the film's time and narrative refuse to move in a linear fashion. Composed of 156 shots and 439 minutes long (or 425 minutes of footage excluding opening and end credits and title cards), each of Sátántangó's shots last on average two and a half minutes, compared to an average of two and a half seconds in a standard Hollywood movie. This makes for a slow but mesmerising dance.
Tarr shared an artistic affinity with Krasznahorkai, collaborating with him on earlier film Damnation (1988) and later adapting his novel The Melancholy of Resistance as Werckmeister Harmonies (2000). Sátántangó is a novel known for its exploration of existential themes and its portrayal of the bleakness of rural life in Hungary, themes well-suited to Tarr's filmmaking sensibilities, as he often delves into similar terrain. The story is set in a desolate Hungarian village where a group of downtrodden and disillusioned characters reside. They are awaiting the return of a mysterious figure, who promises a better life, named Irimiás (played by Mihály Vig, who also composed the film's score). As Irimiás returns, it becomes clear that he is not the saviour they expected, and his true intentions are revealed. Tarr initially made Sátántangó for TV but following international acclaim it was released in cinemas, though nowadays it is shown rarely and often with intermissions (I recently watched it in two parts over two nights).
Editor Ágnes Hranitzky and cinematographer Gábor Medvigy's work in the film is remarkable, capturing the desolation and decay of the village with stunning black & white imagery. Sometimes the camera lingers as long on the faces of the characters as it does on the harsh rural landscape encircling them. The film unfolds with multiple perspectives and timeframes, creating a sense of disorientation and uncertainty, and the camera moves slowly to create long, unbroken takes. In most cases, these long takes drift horizontally or vertically, but in some cases the camera spirals above the villagers or follows a bottle being passed among them. Alcohol features heavily in the film, and in some cases – like the famous dancing scenes – the actors were reportedly drunk during filming. One scene features a 45-minute single shot of a morbidly obese doctor injecting himself with opium and passing out. The characters' lives are filled with misery, boredom and deception, and their interactions are marked by betrayal and hopelessness.
Repetition and recurring moments viewed from different perspectives are another feature of the film. The slight discrepancies between the recurring shots are probably intended by Tarr to represent how our subjective experiences cause us to be fatally disconnected as a community. If we can't share the same reality, how can we function as a society? Sátántangó can be interpreted as a commentary on the waning years of communism in Eastern Europe, particularly in Hungary. This is reflected in the film's sense of economic decline, physical decay (hollowed out and dilapidated buildings), moral disillusionment and existential despair. Sátántangó received critical acclaim on its release, including the Caligari Award in Berlin in 1994, and its reputation has grown considerably over the years as the film has become more widely available. Now considered a masterpiece of slow cinema, the film depicts the jaded present that exists after the myths of social utopia have faded away, but more universally it's about the search for meaning in a desolate world.
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