Hungary, 1975
Length / Feature: 88 minutes
Length / Special features: 26 minutes
2.0 Dual Mono LPCM (48k/16-bit)
Black and white
Original aspect ratio:
1:85:1
Language: HUngarian
Subtitles: English
Blu-Ray: BD25 / 1080p
Region ABC (Region Free)
Blu-Ray RRP: £19.99
Release Date: 12 July 2021
Second Run BD040
Blu-Ray |
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Márta Mészáros is without doubt one of the most significant female directors from Central Europe. Her outspoken works deal frankly with issues of gender, politics and society.
Adoption is a story of the hushed rebellion of two strong women, fortysomething Kata and orphaned teenager Anna. Kata longs to have a child of her own, but rejected by her married lover, Kata looks into adoption. She befriends troubled teen Anna, also determined to start a new life for herself, and the two women soon form a strong and unexpected kinship.
The first female director to win the Golden Bear at the Berlinale, Mészáros’ film is without any hint of artifice; no grand occurrences, no heavyweight discussions of issues, a film quiet and truthful in the best way.
Presented from a new 4K restoration, our region-free Blu-ray also features a new and exclusive filmed introduction by director Mészáros, an archival interview with Mészáros, Trailer and a booklet with new writing on the film by Carmen Gray.
• Presented from a new director-approved 4K restoration created by the National Film Institute Film Archive, Hungary,
and supervised by the film’s cinematographer Lajos Koltai.
• A new introduction to the film by Márta Mészáros (2021).
• A Conversation with Márta Mészáros (2009): an archival interview with the director.
• Trailer
• 16-page booklet with new writing on the film by journalist
and critic Carmen Gray.
• New and improved English subtitle translation.
• World premiere on Blu-ray.
• Region free Blu-ray (A/B/C)
Directed by Márta Mészáros
Screenplay - Márta Mészáros, Gyula Hernádi,
Ferenc Grunwalsky
Cinematography – Lajos Koltai
Editor – Éva Kármentő
Music - György Kovács
Set design - Tamás Banovich
Main cast
Katalin Berek - Kata Csentesné
Gyöngyvér Vigh – Anna Bálint
Péter Fried - Sanyi
László Szabó - Jóska
Flóra Kádár - Erzsi, Jóska’s wife
Janos Boross – Anna’s father
Erzsi Varga – Anna’s mother
István Kaszás – Institute director
Márta Mészáros's acclaimed Diary for My Children
plus many other gems of Hungarian cinema
are also availble on Second Run
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1975 Berlin Film Festival / Winner: Golden Bear for Best Film
1975 Berlin Film Festival / Winner: CIDALC Critics’ Prize
“An independent woman - one who finds herself in a situation where she must make a decision on her own - is the central character in each of the films I have made so far.”
Márta Mészáros
“Seen today, Adoption, which features a single woman who constantly defies expectations, is powerful not just as a refreshing counterpoint to Europe’s rising conservatism
but, even more importantly, in the context of bold feminist cinema.” Ela Bittencourt, Sight & Sound
“Mészáros’ fearless film whose ideological maturity and perspicacity are head and shoulders above its peers.”
Cinema Omnivore
“Adoption rings with a relevant message of self-empowerment and decisively taking control of one’s fate in the face of a dour and uncaring society... A powerful meditation on agency and womanhood in a world that waits to give permission.” Julia Ray, Cinema Rediscovered
“Her name belongs with figures such as Agnès Varda, among European cinema’s important female pioneers. [...]
Adoption is a bold work, that — psychologically complex, politically trenchant, and attuned to rebellion — still holds up today.” Carmen Gray
