Confidence (Bizalom)

Confidence (Bizalom)

(Istvan Szabo, 1979)

Rating: 4/5

Reviewed by Dave Lancaster

Summary: Despite initially being nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, 'Confidence' somehow slipped through the cracks and avoided a home video revival. Now is the time for a rich rediscovery.   

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"Did you sleep well? Did you count the corners?" he asks her. He's sat, well dressed on a chair; she's still in a daze after her first night there.

It's a new room, a strange one, ruled by sharp edges for Katalin who is forced to go under the guise of partner to Janos in order to hide their links to anti-Nazi resistance in Budapest 1944. He is efficient though numbly cracked while she, new to this life of deception, desperately misses her family prompting the humanity he has solely missed to pour out of her and affect him. The anguish will manifest into love and threaten to u-turn into hate. Transformations are subtle and believable in this intricate Hungarian drama.

As Istvan Szabo's masterful film slowly progresses, trust and passions are tested for the fake (yet increasingly genuine) couple while the threat of exposure simmers against a cold wartime backdrop. The photography is soft, dimly lit affording the film an icy detachment populated by empty streets, misty mornings and cramped interiors befitting to the narrative. The inherent sadness of the situation is handled beautifully by the leads. The whole film demands your attention and deeply rewards you for giving it.

Fans of 'Lust, Caution' and 'The Lives of Others' will find much to admire here. Underrated and understated, 'Confidence' is available for the first time on DVD anywhere in the world courtesy of Second Run DVD.   

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