One of famed Hungarian writer Sándor Márai’s most insightful novellas has been adapted for the big screen by József Sipos, bringing the story of human emotion and fate to life in a new form.
Eszter’s Inheritance (Eszter hagyatéka) takes place in the years just prior to World War II, and was originally written in 1939. The film follows the story of Eszter, a striking woman in her middle years, who lives alone by choice in her family’s home, with only the company of Nunu, a faithful servant of the family.
Having reached a point of believing in a calm and safe second half of her life with few expectations, Eszter receives a telegraph that will change her life entirely once again and force her to face sentiments she herself does not understand.
Years ago, she fell in love with Lajos, a charming and convincing young man. Eszter has continued to love him all her life, despite him turning out to be a disloyal con. Causing her near total ruin, Lajos ran off with Eszter’s sister leaving her alone and financially destitute. All that remained in his wake was the family home she has occupied ever since.
Now, some twenty years later, he has sent notice that he will at last be visiting with his two children – re-entering Eszter’s life unexpectedly. Upon receiving the telegraph, Eszter is flooded with old memories and new fears that she must somehow come to terms with.
Eszter’s Inheritance is a human story of a love that never was, yet has consumed a life and of the inevitable intermingling of fate and human actions.
This greatly anticipated film is brought to life with an excellent Hungarian cast including Eszter Nagy Kálózy playing the lead.
Eszter’s Inheritance will premiere on April 17th, and will be shown at Palace MOM Park with English subtitles.
More About Sándor Márai
Sándor Márai is one of Hungary’s best known authors. Born in Hungary in 1900, he rose to fame as one of the leading literary novelists of the 1930s. Due to communist persecution, he was driven from the country in 1948 and eventually ended up in the United States. There, he continued to write numerous novels and stories.
Perhaps best known for his work Embers, which has been translated into several languages, Márai frequently wrote of intricate human qualities and relations. His prose possess a poetic air, lending a unique beauty to his often philosophical tales.
Tragically, Márai ended his own life after the deaths of his beloved wife and son, a mere six months before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the free publishing of more than forty of his works.
