Sunshine

  • Austria Sunshine (more)
Austria / Canada / Germany / Hungary, 1999, 181 min

Directed by:

István Szabó

Cinematography:

Lajos Koltai

Composer:

Maurice Jarre

Cast:

Ralph Fiennes, Rosemary Harris, Rachel Weisz, Jennifer Ehle, Deborah Kara Unger, Molly Parker, James Frain, John Neville, Miriam Margolyes, Rüdiger Vogler (more)
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Plots(1)

The film tells the chronicle of the twentieth century by presenting the story of four generations of a Jewish family. The great-grandfather, Manó Sonnenschein, son of a village innkeeper, advances to become a reknowned industrialist in Budapest with the help of a secret recipe, the herbal liquor called „The Taste of Sunshine". It is the great-grandfather who builds the villa of the family, evidence of their highly established position, where his two sons, Ignátz and Gusztáv, and their adoptive cousin Vali, are raised. To promote his career, Ignátz changes his name to Hungarian-sounding Sors, and Adam, the fencing champion, even gets christened. His son Iván avenges his father's death as a member of the state police, but disillusioned with the regime, he joins the revolutionaries in 1956. The only one to stick to the roots and to autonomy is Vali, and it is she who serves as a model for Iván after his years in prison. (MNFA)

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