Gloomy Sunday

aka: Ein Lied Von Liebe Und Tod
Germany / Hungary 1999, 114 minutes
Dir. Rolf Schubel
In German with English subtitles
Rating: [M]
Genres: Foreign Cinema, Drama, Music / Romance, War

Feat. Joachim Krol, Erika Marozsan, Ben Becker, Stefano Dionisi

Aroview: Captivating drama which pivots around the apocryphal origins of the classic melancholy song 'Gloomy Sunday' in pre-WW2 Budapest.

An amiably arranged love-triangle develops between a restauranteur (Krol), his beautiful girlfirend (Marozsan) and the house pianist (Dionisi), but is complicated also by the attentions of German entrepeneur (Becker). One night the pianist introduces his latest composition, which soon becomes a hit, but also triggers a chain of suicides - its mournful theme tipping the depressed and lovelorn over the edge.

Due to its polished storytelling, memorably decent characters, and wonderful music this has had a bewitching effect on audiences around the world, especially in NZ, where it ran in one Auckland cinema for 80 weeks!