Hungarian Wedding (Magyar menyegző) is the latest film by Csaba Káel. If the name doesn’t instantly ring a bell for cinephiles, it might be because he is better known as the CEO of the Hungarian Film Fund and of one of Europe’s best concert halls, MÜPA. More about that later. The film, as it looks, is set in the early eighties. In Budapest, two inseparable friends and ardent rock musicians, the charismatic Peter (Tamás Kovács) and András (Zsombor Kövesi), perform together in a band. With only four original songs to their name, they nurse a shared dream of one day breaking through to the West.
To make that dream a reality, they need money—and András has a bold plan. He convinces Peter to travel with him across the border into Romania’s Kalotaszeg region, near Cluj-Napoca, a pocket of Transylvania where ethnic Hungarians form the majority. The mission: Peter will marry András’s strikingly beautiful cousin Kati (Franciska Törőcsik), freeing her from the stifling traditions of village life and bringing her back to the relative freedom of Hungary’s capital. In return, Peter will finally be able to afford the Western electric guitar he has long desired—the shady owner of said instrument (Zsolt Anger) tells Peter that he can have it if he smuggles holy icons from Transylvania into Hungary.
What’s the point of the Hungarian Wedding?
The official reason for the visit is the arranged marriage of Kati’s sister, who is also András’s cousin. Once they arrive, a substantial portion of the film will be devoted to traditional dancing. Between the not very compelling dancing sequences is a wafer-thin love story of the most simplistic, predictable kind, with an ending that will not surprise anyone. The dancing is meant to serve as building blocks in the film, but comes off as a decorative annoyance. We are not talking Szerelmem, Elektra, here. Even though the runtime is a mere 93 minutes, I was checking my watch more than once.
The film reminded me of simplistic Swedish romantic movies set in the countryside in the forties and fifties. At least those films were cheap and quickly made. Occasionally, there were great films on this theme, such as Alf Sjöberg’s Bara en Mor (1949), starring the great Ewa Dahlbeck. These kinds of films were parodied by the great comedian Povel Ramel in a 1954 film called I rök och dans.
The Black Nights Film Festival typically shuns politically motivated decisions. That is a significant strength of the fest. In this case, the decision to screen it in the main competition remains puzzling. The film’s clichéd, bland qualities would be enough to reject it. That the director has close ties to the Orbán government might be another reason not to screen it. As explained in this article, the film did not receive any funding from the National Film Institute, but that doesn’t mean the Hungarian state was not involved. It was supported by MTVA, the partly state-owned Mol – New Europe Foundation, and the public interest asset manager, the Batthyány Lajos Foundation.
Readers might recognise Franciska Törőcsik as the leading actress in the amusing Cat Call (Cicaverzum), which was screened at PÖFF two years ago. She was also in the TV series Rise of the Raven 1Four of the episodes were directed byOrsi Nagypal., which was occasionally referred to as a Hungarian attempt to make Game of Thrones, with ample nudity on display. I recommend everyone watch or rewatch Cat Call instead of witnessing this expensive, eminently empty, and boring wedding.
Hungarian Wedding was screened in the main competition at this year’s Black Nights Film Festival. It did not win any awards.
Update: As a result of FIDESZ losing the 2026 election, it seems that Czaba Kaél will lose all of the positions he held, once the new government is in place.
