literature, cinema, fine arts

Hyppolit, the Butler (Hyppolit, a lakáj, 1931)

120 years of Hungarian cinema

Auditorium
  • Produced by Müpa Budapest
  • Müpacinema

Ticket prices

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We bet no one remembers the first five minutes of Hypolit, the Butler! Yet that part of Károly Nóti's screenplay based on István Zágon's play provided arguably the most important reading of the film in its own time. What is the meaning of being an entrepreneur in the early 1930s in Hungary? How does tradition deal with modernity? And what clashes arise from the markedly different identities in a defining era of Hungarian civilisation? Of course, it is entirely forgivable if instead some people remember the hilarious dialogues and Mihály Eisemann's classic songs.

But if you let go of bittersweet nostalgia, that happy nodding oblivion, you will be struck by the fact that István Székely's 90-year-old film is full of thoughts and ideas still valid today. Because Hyppolit is not a farce but a satire, even though the exaggerations you would expect from a satire do not exceed the boundaries of our imagination. All that happens is that events become increasingly scandalous. Hypocrisy, lies, corruption, lording it up. Here, you can find it all. With little references in every corner of the film. How it feels to not have entirely broken free from the 1929 global economic crisis. That the fate of concession depends on some strange things. Small indications that no one is in their right place, that no one will take responsibility for their deeds. Except for Hyppolit, the butler for the landed gentry - portrayed spectacularly here by Gyula Csortos. There is no doubt that Hyppolit is a little stiff, and tries to guide the habits and the affectations of the family of the newly made member of the bourgeoisie, Mátyás Schneider (Gyula Kabos), a businessman who works in refuse collecting and suddenly strikes it rich. Perhaps he thinks they are in search of something else. In a strange way, though, he is the one who succeeds in untangling the tangled threads, restoring the shocked world in his own inimitable way. And in the end, with his unsettling smile, he reassures is that human qualities do not depend on whether someone prefers to eat onion alongside onion.

The discussions before and after the screening will be conducted in Hungarian.

Presented by: Müpa Budapest
  • Host
    Márton Kurutz
  • Director
    István Székely

Parking information

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