Directed by:
György PálfiCast:
Brigitte Bardot (a.f.), Alain Delon (a.f.), Bruno Ganz (a.f.), Greta Garbo (a.f.), Rita Hayworth (a.f.), András Kozák (a.f.), Tony Chiu-wai Leung (a.f.) (more)Plots(1)
What does a passionate director do when the source of state film funding goes dry? He spends three years sitting in the cutting room and creates one thousand and one forms of love out of more than 450 canonical masterpieces of the world cinema. The meta-story of the relationship between a man and a woman includes all the necessary stages including courting, engagement, honeymoon, infidelity, conception, parting and death, thus posing an intellectual challenge for cinema buffs as well as pure delight for everybody who is interested in the topic of love. The acclaimed Hungarian director, Geőrgy Pálfi, already skilfully experimented with his festival hit, Taxidermy (2006). This time, however, he explores the sophisticated nuances of composition instead of a provoking plot. (Febiofest)
(more)Reviews (4)
An absolute film. I believe that something like this runs through the minds of true cinephiles in REM sleep. Both emotionally and narratively, Final Cut is a surprisingly effective experiment that succeeds in evoking the impression of narrative continuity and is even able to evoke a kind of identification (not with the characters, but with archetypal romantic-film situations). Pálfi’s creative signature is most apparent in his full use of situations reeking of the most physical humanity (there is even a fragment of the “sugar” scene from Sweet Movie) and in the subversive sabotage of serious situations with a completely inappropriate shot of Yoda or someone/something similar. In fact, it’s a slightly more conspicuous use of the technique with which Tyler Durden improved children’s movies in Fight Club. Movie fans can surely engage in a contest of who can recognise more films (I would only ask that this be done at a private screening next time), but in my opinion, such an activity would not come close to exhausting the film’s potential for entertainment. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone eventually writes at least a bachelor’s thesis on the edited compositions and types of shot continuity (atmosphere, movement, shape). 90%
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Alright, György Pálfi. If you make the effort to piece together an incredible number of fragments into an optimistic whole, you must truly be a people person at heart. A taxidermy that is not forgettable but forgiven at the least expected moment.
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Every cinephile’s dream come true. A film that could have been edited by anyone, but Pálfi pulls it off so well in terms of narrative and smooth continuity that no one will dare to imitate it. An orthodox cinephilic ode, a real balm for my tired soul.
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Honestly, I don't know how to begin. It's no secret that I am a cynical bastard who jokes even about the worst tragedy, which means I'm not crazy about romantic movies, but Hungarians know how to win me over. Testről és lélekről has been in my top ten for quite a while. This movie is perfection. It completely blew me away. I enjoyed watching this film collage on the theme of love, and the Finns from the Balaton have shown that they've still got it. I am not a filmmaker, just an amateur viewer, but I assume it would probably be easier to make a whole new film than to put it together from such a large amount of material so that the entire work makes sense. I have never seen anything like this before, and I think I never will. The Hungarians paid tribute to world cinema and all those actors and actresses and made a film about love that blew my mind. A powerful experience. / Lesson learned: Scissors can barely keep up with certain ideas.
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