Katalin Varga

2009/ Romania, UK, Hungary / Dir.  Peter Strickland /Cast Andrea Gavriliu, Roberto Giacomello, Melinda Kántor.

Part fable, part revenge-story, this beautifully shot film reveals Katalin’s quest in a brooding Hungarian landscape. Katalin Varga’s husband discovers that their son Orbán is not his. Ostracized by her village she sets out with her son in a horse and cart through the Carpathian mountains. She tries to find Antal, the man who raped her 11 years earlier, yet discovers he is now a devoted family man. An ominous atmosphere and an otherworldly score make this a film of remarkable assurance and intensity. 

“Mesmerising…the arrival of a genuine film-making talent” – THE TIME