Their long, heavy skirts slightly moved by a surreal breeze—those of three women watching something off-camera unaware of the observer’s mechanical eye, mesmerised by a vision that will always be theirs only. It is to this famous 1951 still photography by Lucien Hervé that Marcell Iványi gives his own fascinating interpretation. Szél is a single-shot film that shines with Hungarian stylistic economy and an extraordinarily ingenious cinematic narrative. A simple camera revolution on a tripod seems to follow the voice of the wind in search of an answer. Curiosity intensifies as we pan across the deserted countryside, then turns into anguish, horror, and a final pragmatic resignation. These are not the seven minutes that will change the history of cinema, but a time not wasted that attracts our gaze like a lesser moon, intensely bright.
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