ON BODY AND SOUL/ EL TESTROL EL LELEKOL

Hungary, 2017, 117 minutes, Colour.
Mrocsanyi Geza, Alexandra Borbely.
Directed by Ildiko Enyedi.

On Body and Soul is quite a striking film, Hungarian in its storytelling and perspectives but with a powerful universal impact.

The film is set in an ordinary city, scenes of people’s apartments, restaurants, but most of the action taking place in an abattoir.

With the abattoir and the focus on the cattle, penned, prodded, close-ups of their eyes, their deaths, the carcasses and the blood, the hanging meat, the workers going about their tasks calmly, the abattoir as something of an image of life and human experience. While there is a lot of detail of the abattoir – and the final credits note that animals were harmed during the filming but not by the film crew because they simply photographed an abattoir at work – it is not confined to the slaughter but also to the range of members of the staff, Finance Director, Human Relations director, supervisor, as well as the various women in diverse domestic jobs.

At the film begins with another image of animals, beautiful shots of a stag and the doe in the snowy forest, their instincts, their meeting, moving towards each other and an animal affection. As it turns out, these are the animals in the dreams of the two central characters, therefore highly symbolic. Peter is the finance director at the abattoir, Maria is a supervisor and inspector. When he first sees her, standing aloof and alone as she usually does, he is fascinated, meets her in the dining room, begins a conversation – but she is very awkward in responding. As we can see almost immediately from her behaviour, she is both compulsive and obsessive in the detail of her work, in neatness, in remembering sequences and dates in exact order.

An event in the abattoir, the stealing of some pharmaceuticals, leads to a psychologist visiting and questioning all the workers, rather intrusive questions about sexual behaviour, the nature of dreams… Peter is very offhand whereas Maria is absolutely precise. It is here that the audience sees that the two have the same dreams, the psychologist thinking this is joke and Peter not disillusioning her. Interestingly, she actually does pinpoint from her examination who the culprit is.

Quite a deal of the film focuses on Maria, her attempts to begin some kind of communication with people, getting advice from the rather raunchy old lady who cleans on what to wear and how to walk, buying a mobile phone which she has never had, contacting Peter, having conversations which lead to a theoretical intimacy. She also goes to a music store, listening all day to records but finally buying that recommended by the woman at the counter.

Peter, meanwhile, dislikes one of the workers, warning him about having care for his work on the animals, suspecting him of the theft – and later apologising when the man is not the thief. Peter has an injured arm, lives alone quietly, a slapdash kind of life. Maria brings something out of him but, both of them being awkward, there are some misunderstandings – which will almost leads to tragedy.

The film is very well acted, the dialogue always interesting, the situation is identifiable with, the exploration of human nature, human bodily illness, the reality of the soul. This all makes On Body and Soul a film of high quality.

The film won the Golden Bear at the Berlin are they, 2017, as well as the prize of the Ecumenical Jury and the jury of the International Film Critics.

1. The title? Ideas? Symbols? Images in dreams? Conveyed by drama, dialogue?

2. Hungarian sensibility, European sensibility, a focus on ordinary life, its meaning, struggles, hopes? Emphasis on humans and animals, differences, similarities? Symbolism?

3. The city, offices, flats, restaurants? Ordinary atmosphere? The musical score?

4. The opening, the deer, the forest in the snow, the meeting, nature and what is natural, instinct? The recurring images of the deer? From the dreams of Peter, of Maria? The link? At the end? The absence of the deer and peace in the forest?

5. The abattoir setting, the large plant, the various areas, the slaughtering of the cattle, the close-ups of the cattle, their eyes – and Peter’s asking the worker about feeling sorry for the cattle? The cattle dead, the blood and the rinsing of the floor, and the meat hanging? The workers, their jobs, going about them? Human Relations? Finance? The supervisor? The abattoir and the life within it as something of symbolic of life?

6. Peter in himself, his job, finance, watching Maria, fascinated, the discussions with his friend, not to say Marika, going to talk, discussion about the meal, her reaction? The staff reporting her to Peter? His visit, the discussions about her work, the grades of the cattle? Asking her for coffee, sharing it with her?

7. Maria, obsessive, clean and neat? The qualifications, in herself, aloof, not communicating with the others, despite their invitations? At home? The dialogue between herself and Peter with the pepper and salt shakers? Her inability to make connections, dedication to her work? A change in response to Peter?

8. The friend in Human Relations, his family, the theft and his cover-up? Sandor being a suspect, the psychologist and her correct estimation of who stole? Tipping the Human Relations man?

9. Peter, his not liking Sandor, Sandor and his bravado, with the workers, taunting Maria? Peter suspecting him, later apologising?

10. The psychologist, the glamour style, the range of questions, about sexual behaviour, losing virginity? Asking about dreams? Peter and his reaction? Maria, exact precision about health, dates, her dreams? The psychologist thinking the two dreams about deers was a joke, not? Peter saying to the psychologist that it was?

11. Peter, his life, lacking the hand, the daughter’s visit, living alone, scrap meals, watching television, his needs?

12. Maria, the consultations with the doctor? The discussion about clothes and way to walk with the old lady (and the old lady and her rather raunchy style)?

13. Not having a phone, Maria buying the phone, using it, contacting Peter, talking, their shared conversations, falling asleep together?

14. Music, her not being a listener, going to the shop, listening to all the records, buying the recommendation of the woman at the desk, the lyrics and the relationship to her?

15. Peter, erratic, messages, ignoring Maria, the break?

16. Maria considering suicide, setting up the music, in the bath, slitting her wrist, the blood? The phone call, Peter and his expressions, the impact on Maria? Maria going to the hospital, tending to her wrist, going to Peter, their sexual encounter and what it meant to each of them?

17. Ordinary, love, the possibilities for them – and no deer in the dreams?

18. The title, exploration of human nature, bodiliness, the reality of the soul, humans as body and soul?