Ildikó Enyedi Laudation: Curiosity, Gentleness, and Love

It is rare in film history for a director’s first film to be a masterpiece. In 1989, the entire film world took notice of a smiling, gentle-looking young director when her debut film, My 20th Century, won the Golden Camera Award at Cannes. The film was also smiling and gentle, full of wonders, but not without drama and tragedy.

Through the story of twin girls, it was about a dream: that the 20th century, which saw the invention of electricity, the airplane, the telegraph, and, last but not least, film, would be a century of light and eternal peace.

Today we know that this did not happen. The film is the story of this collective dream—and its disappointment. It is a wonderful tale that never loses sight of reality for a moment. In it, the stars watched over the heroines’ journey, and animals spoke.

From then on, Enyedi was fascinated by the relationship between nature and the supernatural, reality and dreams, tragedy and joy, in all her films. Whatever she spoke about later, during her successful decades, she remained contemplative and gentle. She did not dispense justice, but marveled at the world: at its beauty and its ugliness alike.

On Body and Soul, which won the Golden Bear in Berlin, is one of the most beautiful love stories of our time, in which the lovers are connected by an invisible, mystical thread: they had the same dream about a beautiful pair of deer in the forest.

Her latest work, Silent Friend, which won six awards in Venice, including the FIPRESCI Prize, is the crowning achievement of her career to date: it sums up everything this wise filmmaker knows about people, the world, and even things we are unaware of but can only sense.

A philosophical fairy tale, it centers on an old, beautiful ginkgo tree that provides shade and solace to three different characters from three different eras: a girl at the beginning of the 20th century – reminiscent of the heroine of her debut feature – a rebellious young man from the 1970s, recalling the creator’s youthful years, and then, in the present day, in the technologized world of the new millennium, a university professor and his students.

As critics, we consider a great director to be someone whose personal signature is present in all of their work. This is perfectly true of Ildikó Enyedi: all of her films are imbued with contemplative curiosity, gentleness, and love – a combination that results in a uniquely distinctive film form. In short, Enyedi’s films are unmistakable, a series of captivating, enjoyable stories and images about human destiny in our world.

Ildikó Enyedi Laudation: Curiosity, Gentleness, and Love