Synopsis
Budapest in the thirties. The restaurant owner Laszlo hires the pianist András to play in his restaurant. Both men fall in love with the beautiful waitress Ilona who inspires András to his only composition. His song of Gloomy Sunday is, at first, loved and then feared, for its melancholic melody triggers off a chain of suicides. The fragile balance of the erotic ménage à trois is sent off kilter when the German Hans goes and falls in love with Ilona as well.
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Cast
- Erika MarozsánIlona
- Joachim KrólLászló
- Ben BeckerHans Wieck
- Stefano DionisiAndrás
- András BálintIlonas Sohn
- Géza BorosGeigenspieler
- Rolf BeckerDer alte Wieck
- Ilse ZielstorffFrau Wieck
- Ferenc BácsBotschafter
- Júlia ZsolnaiFrau Botschafter
Recommendations
- 80
Los Angeles Times
A beautiful period piece, set against one of the world's glorious cities, adding poignancy. Twists and turns heighten a gradually accruing effect, building to a risky moment of truth, a coup de théâtre that is as daring as it is satisfying. - 75
Christian Science Monitor
Suicides are proliferating in the city -- is the song to blame, or is it the tenor of the times? - 75
Chicago Sun-Times
It's an old-fashioned romantic triangle, told with schmaltzy music on the sound track and a heroine with a smoky singing voice, and then the Nazis turn up and it gets very complicated and heartbreaking. - 70
The Hollywood Reporter
Long on atmosphere and Old World charm. - 70
Variety
The iconic '30s song "Gloomy Sunday" gets a distinctive celluloid setting in this well-played, cleverly scripted pic in which music and character are inextricably combined. - 60
The A.V. Club
Gloomy Sunday's success in transcending its own clichés and conventionality -- at least until the morose finale -- is due in part to the story's primal romantic pull, aided by attractive actors who either stare longingly into each other's eyes or cavort in states of undress. - 60
Chicago Reader
The Holocaust subplot is contrived and schematic. Yet the central love triangle is fairly compelling, aided by Krol's fine performance. - 60
Wall Street Journal
Who knew that one of Billie Holiday's most haunting songs was written in Budapest in the 1930s? I didn't until I saw Gloomy Sunday, a German film, shot in Hungary and directed by Rolf Schubel, that I enjoyed quite a lot, even though it's all over the map in more ways than one.
