Szerelmem, Elektra

I will never cease to tip my hat to the way Jancsó was able to stage movement on a mise-en-scène to a vast depth of field, with hundreds of extras, and often in shots lasting several minutes, and Electra, My Love is a film primarily built on this formal foundation. As a sideline, it’s also an intellectual allegory, bringing a famous ancient drama into contrast with a contemporary political-ethical study, but due to the narrative monotony and the absence of any dynamising motifs (except for the interesting conclusion), it will not get under the skin of most viewers and will cause the rest a peaceful and undisturbed sleep. It should be added that I watched it as part of a Hungarian cinema class in the morning after a hard night and three hours of sleep (nothing like studying in Brno), and yet I only fell asleep for a short while. :-D This undoubtedly testifies to a considerable, though really hard to appreciate, quality. (2016.10.28)