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Gloomy Sunday

1999, Movie, NR, 117 mins

Gloomy Sunday: Review

GLOOMY SUNDAY | GLOOMY SUNDAY: EIN LIED VON LIEBE UND TOD
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There's a bizarre story attached to "Gloomy Sunday," the mournful tune made famous in the U.S. by both Artie Shaw and Billie Holiday in the early 1940s. Originally titled "Szormoru vasarnap," it was written in 1933 by an obscure Hungarian composer named Rezso Seress (Seress's original lyrics were later replaced by those of his countryman, poet Laszlo Javor). The song initially met with little interest, but a strange rumor began to circulate around Budapest that soon boosted its profile. It was reported that shortly after listening to the melancholy song, a number of people committed suicide; it was even whispered that Javor's lyrics had made their way into their suicide notes. Nicknamed the "Suicide Song," "Gloomy Sunday" was translated into English and re-recorded by European and American artists, but was banned from the airwaves by several nervous radio station executives. Exactly how much of this legend is actually true has been debated for years (one sad fact is certain: Seress jumped to his death in 1968), but it makes for a good story, one eventually made its way into Nick Barkow's novel Gloomy Sunday, on which Hungarian director Rolf Schubel's passable WWII melodrama is based. Laszlo Szabo (Jaochim Krol) is the Jewish proprietor of a fashionable Budapest eatery that's become famous for two things: Delicious beef rolls and the haunting melody played each night by the restaurant's resident pianist, Andras Aradi (Stefano Dionisi). An aspiring composer, Andras wrote the piece for Ilona (Erika Morzsan), Szabo's beautiful hostess and Laszlo's long-time mistress, whom Andras loves. Stirred by the song, Ilona soon admits her own intense feelings for the poor but dashingly handsome musician. Wounded but always a gentleman, Laszlo permits Ilona to choose between her lovers as fancy strikes, but her romantic, JULES ET JIM idyll is shattered by the sudden arrival of the Nazis and the simultaneous disappearance of the city's Jews and their property. Andras is tormented the rash of suicides being blamed on his recording of the now infamous song, while Laszlo scrambles to make arrangements with an old German customer (Ben Becker) — now an SS officer — to save both his restaurant and himself. This handsomely mounted and well-acted film opts for dramatic effect over historical fact — Laszlo's quips about the Final Solution imply a definite foreknowledge of his possible fate that few of Europe's Jews had in the early years of the war — but like the legend of "Gloomy Sunday" itself, the film remains entertaining despite its dubious accuracy. leave a comment --Ken Fox
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