Miklós Jancsó

1.1. Early Life and Education

Miklós Jancsó was born on 27 September 1921, in Vác, Pest County, Hungary. His father was Sándor Jancsó, a Hungarian, and his mother was Angela Poparada, a Romanian. After graduating from high school, he pursued legal studies at the University of Pécs, one of Hungary's oldest universities, founded in 1367. He received his law degree in 1944 from the Hungarian Royal Ferenc József University in Cluj-Napoca, Transylvania. Beyond law, Jancsó also took courses in art history and ethnography, continuing these studies in Transylvania, which broadened his intellectual and artistic horizons.

1.2. World War II Service and Post-War Entry

Following his graduation, Jancsó served in World War II and was briefly held as a prisoner of war. Although he registered with the legal Bar, he ultimately chose not to pursue a career in law. After the war, in 1946, he moved to Budapest and enrolled in the Academy of Theatre and Film Arts. He completed his Diploma in Film Directing in 1950. During this formative period, Jancsó began working on newsreel footage, covering a range of subjects including May Day celebrations, agricultural harvests, and state visits from Soviet dignitaries. This early experience in documentary filmmaking allowed him to master technical aspects of the craft and provided him with firsthand observations of Hungarian society.

2.1. 1950s: Foundations

Jancsó began his directorial career in 1954, primarily focusing on documentary newsreels. Between 1954 and 1958, he directed numerous short newsreels, covering subjects from a portrait of Hungarian writer Zsigmond Móricz in 1955 to an official Chinese state visit in 1957. While these early works did not yet reflect his mature aesthetic, they provided him with crucial opportunities to hone his technical filmmaking skills and to travel extensively across Hungary, gaining valuable insights into the country's realities.

In 1958, Jancsó completed his first full-length feature film, The Bells Have Gone to Rome. The film stars Miklós Gábor and depicts a group of Hungarian schoolboys pressured by Nazi Germans to join the army and fight against the Russians on the Eastern Front. As the schoolboys gradually comprehend the nature of the Nazi regime, they reject the German offer. Jancsó himself later dismissed this early work, viewing it as unrepresentative of his developing style. Following this, he returned to documentary filmmaking, including a notable collaboration with his then-wife, film director Márta Mészáros. A pivotal moment in his career occurred in 1959 when he met Hungarian author Gyula Hernádi, who would become his lifelong collaborator, co-writing Jancsó's films until Hernádi's death in 2005.

2.2. 1960s: International Acclaim

After contributing to the film Három csillag in 1960 alongside Zoltán Várkonyi and Károly Wiedermann, Jancsó's next significant feature was Cantata (1962). Starring Zoltán Latinovits and Andor Ajtay, and written by Jancsó from a short story by József Lengyel, the film follows a young doctor from humble origins who grows weary of his intellectual life as a surgeon in Budapest. He returns to his birthplace, his father's farm on the Hungarian plains, and rediscovers a forgotten connection to nature. The film received mixed reviews in Hungary but earned a prize from the Hungarian Critics Circle.

Jancsó's subsequent film, My Way Home (1964), marked his first collaboration with screenwriter Gyula Hernádi. Starring András Kozák and Sergei Nikonenko, the film portrays Jozak, a teenage deserter from Hungary's Nazi-aligned army at the end of World War II. He is captured twice by the Red Army and assigned to watch over sheep, where he befriends a dying young Russian soldier. Despite a language barrier, the two innocently play games, momentarily forgetting their roles as captor and prisoner. After the Russian soldier succumbs to his wounds, Jozak continues his journey home, wearing his deceased friend's Soviet uniform for warmth. While My Way Home garnered modest international attention, Jancsó's next feature, The Round-Up (1965), became a massive domestic and international success, widely regarded as a significant work of world cinema. Written by Hernádi and starring János Görbe, Zoltán Latinovits, Tibor Molnár, Gábor Agárdy, and András Kozák, the film is set shortly after the failed Hungarian Revolution of 1848 against Austrian rule, depicting the authorities' efforts to identify rebels. Shot in widescreen black and white by Jancsó's frequent collaborator Tamás Somló, The Round-Up did not yet fully exhibit the elaborate fluid camera style that would define his later works, but it established his characteristic use of the Hungarian puszta (plain) under oppressive sunlight. Premiering at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival, it was lauded by Hungarian film critic Zoltán Fábri as "perhaps the best Hungarian film ever made," and Derek Malcolm included it in his list of the 100 greatest films. Over a million people in Hungary, a country of 10 million, saw the film.

Jancsó's next project, The Red and the White (1967), was a Hungarian-Soviet co-production intended to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the subsequent Hungarian Revolution of 1919. Jancsó set the film two years later during the Russian Civil War, creating an anti-heroic portrayal of the senselessness and brutality of armed conflict. The film, starring József Madaras, Tibor Molnár, and András Kozák, and written by Jancsó, was scheduled to premiere at the 1968 Cannes Film Festival alongside The Confrontation, but the festival was canceled due to the events of May 1968 in France. Despite this, The Red and the White achieved Jancsó's greatest international success, receiving critical acclaim in Western Europe and the United States, and winning the Best Foreign Film award from the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics. It is also featured in the influential book "1001 Films You Must See Before You Die."

In 1968, Jancsó directed Silence and Cry (Csend és kiáltás), starring András Kozák as a young revolutionary hiding in the countryside after the failed 1919 Hungarian Revolution. He is sheltered by a sympathetic farmer, who is constantly humiliated by the White Army. The farmer's wife, attracted to Kozák, begins to poison her husband, leading Kozák to a moral dilemma that compels him to turn her over to the White Army. This film marked Jancsó's first collaboration with cinematographer János Kende and was co-written with Gyula Hernádi. Also in 1968, Jancsó shot his first color film, The Confrontation (Fényes szelek, 1969). This film was also notable for introducing song and dance as integral elements, a feature that would become increasingly prominent in his 1970s works and his later Pepe and Kapa films. The film, starring Andrea Drahota, Kati Kovács, and Lajos Balázsovits, is based on real events during Hungary's post-1947 Communist education system reforms. It depicts revolutionary students from a Communist People's College campaigning to win over students from an older Catholic college, a campaign that escalates from songs and slogans to violence and book burning. Jancsó concluded the decade with Sirokkó (Winter Wind) in 1969, a film starring Jacques Charrier, Marina Vlady, Ewa Swann, József Madaras, István Bujtor, György Bánffy, and Philippe March. Written by Jancsó and Hernádi in collaboration with Francis Girod and Jacques Rouffio, the film portrays a group of Croat anarchists in the 1930s plotting to assassinate King Alexander I of Yugoslavia.

2.3. 1970s: Stylization and Symbolism

By the late 1960s, Jancsó's films increasingly embraced symbolism, featuring longer takes and more elaborate visual choreography. This stylistic evolution reached its peak in the 1970s, where he pushed these elements to extremes. For instance, his 1974 film Elektreia consists of only 12 shots over its 70-minute runtime. This highly stylized approach, a departure from the more realist style of the 1960s, garnered widespread acclaim with Red Psalm (Még kér a nép, 1971), for which Jancsó won the Best Director award at Cannes in 1972. Similar to The Round-Up, Red Psalm centers on a doomed uprising, further cementing his thematic focus on historical conflicts and the futility of rebellion.

In the latter half of the 1970s, Jancsó embarked on the ambitious Vitam et sanguinem trilogy. However, only the first two films, Hungarian Rhapsody (Magyar rapszódia, 1978) and Allegro Barbaro (1978), were completed due to a muted critical reception. At the time, these films were the most expensive productions in Hungarian cinema history. During this decade, Jancsó divided his time between Italy and Hungary, directing several films in Italy. The most widely known of these is Private Vices, Public Virtues (Vizi privati, pubbliche virtù, 1975), an interpretation of the Mayerling Incident. However, his Italian films have generally been critically derided, and unlike his 1980s works, they have not undergone a significant critical reassessment, remaining the most obscure part of his filmography.

2.4. 1980s: Re-evaluation and Evolution

Jancsó's films of the 1980s initially faced limited success, with some contemporary critics accusing him of merely re-hashing visual and thematic elements from his earlier works. However, these films have more recently undergone a critical re-evaluation, with some critics now considering this period to contain some of Jancsó's most important and compelling works.

The Tyrant's Heart (A zsarnok szíve, avagy Boccaccio Magyarországon, 1981) can be seen as a transitional film, bridging the gap between his celebrated historical works of the 1960s and 1970s and his later, more ironic and self-aware productions. While it retains a historical setting-a 15th-century palace in Hungary-its ontological inquiry aligns it more closely with his later period. The film deliberately undermines the audience's ability to construct a coherent reality within the plot, often contradicting itself and incorporating numerous postmodern interventions to question its own manipulative nature.

His 1985 film Dawn (A hajnal) was selected for the 36th Berlin International Film Festival in 1986. In 1987, Jancsó served as a member of the jury at the 15th Moscow International Film Festival. Later in the decade, Jancsó moved away from the historical rural settings of the Hungarian puszta, shifting his focus to contemporary urban Budapest. Season of Monsters (Szörnyek évadja, 1986) became the first Jancsó film to feature scenes in contemporary Budapest since Cantata, 23 years prior. Although set in a modern environment, much of the film still takes place on the puszta. While new visual tropes were introduced, such as a fascination with television screens displaying clips of future or past actions, other signature elements like candles and naked women were retained. In subsequent films of the decade, Jancsó continued to employ the surrealistic-parodistic style developed in Season of Monsters, and these later works were more consistently set in urban environments.

Despite some positive critical reactions-Season of Monsters, for example, received an honorable mention at Venice for creating "a new picture language"-the general critical reception for these films was initially very harsh, with some critics labeling them as self-parody. More recently, critics have been more favorable towards these dense and often deliberately obtuse films, with some considering his 1980s output to be his most compelling. However, a full rehabilitation of these works has been hindered by their infrequent screenings. His 1989 film Jesus Christ's Horoscope was entered into the 16th Moscow International Film Festival.

2.5. 1990s-2000s: Artistic Revival

In the early 1990s, Jancsó directed two films, God Walks Backwards (Isten hátrafelé megy, 1990) and Blue Danube Waltz (Kék Duna keringő, 1991), which can be thematically linked to his 1980s works. These films not only continued his previous decade's explorations but also served as reactions to Hungary's new post-Communist reality, delving into inherent power struggles. After a significant break from directing full-length features, Jancsó made a surprising comeback with The Lord's Lantern in Budapest (Nekem lámpást adott kezembe az Úr Pesten, 1999). This film largely departed from his signature long takes and choreographed camera movements, leading him to collaborate with a new director-of-photography, Ferenc Grunwalsky. The loose plot follows two gravediggers, Pepe and Kapa, as they attempt to navigate the shifting realities of post-Communist Budapest. Despite playfully mocking young Hungarians for their perceived shallowness, the film became a minor hit with younger audiences, partly aided by performances from some of Hungary's top music acts featured in the film.

The late 1990s saw a significant revival in Jancsó's career, marked by a series of improvised, low-budget films characterized by their wit and self-deprecating humor. These films not only performed relatively well at the Hungarian box office for art house fare but also gained popularity among a new generation of younger viewers. The success of The Lord's Lantern in Budapest led to a succession of six Pepe and Kapa films, with the last one released in 2006 when Jancsó was 85 years old. While all these films are rooted in the present, recent entries have also seen Jancsó return to his earlier fascination with historical themes, including depictions of the Holocaust and Hungary's devastating defeat to the Ottomans in 1526. These historical explorations are often framed within a critique of Hungarians for their perceived failure to understand the meaning of their own history. These films are highly popular among young cinephiles, primarily due to their postmodern, contemporary approach to filmmaking, their dark, absurd humor, and the appearance of several popular alternative and underground bands and personalities. Jancsó further cemented his reputation by making appearances in a number of films, not only as himself in the Pepe and Kapa series but also in guest roles in works by young, emerging Hungarian directors.

In addition to his feature films, Jancsó directed numerous shorts and documentaries throughout his career. From 1971 into the 1980s, he also directed stage productions for the theater. Miklós Jancsó was an honorary scholar at the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest starting in 1988, and he was an affiliate at Harvard between 1990 and 1992.

2.6. Signature Cinematic Style

Miklós Jancsó's filmmaking is instantly recognizable for its distinctive technical and thematic elements, which evolved throughout his career.

2.7. Political and Social Engagement

Miklós Jancsó was a filmmaker deeply committed to political and social commentary, and his work consistently reflected his liberal democratic leanings. During the Communist era in Hungary, he frequently faced criticism from authorities, who labeled his films as formalist, nationalist, and generally antithetical to Socialist ideology. This criticism underscored his independent artistic spirit and his subtle, yet potent, critiques of the prevailing political system.

From the 1990s onwards, following the fall of Communism, Jancsó became a vocal supporter of the Hungarian liberal party, SZDSZ. His public statements, including his often wry and critical dismissal of certain aspects of Hungarian history and national character, sometimes made him a controversial figure. This willingness to challenge conventional narratives and express unconventional views highlighted his commitment to open discourse and critical self-reflection within society. Furthermore, Jancsó actively campaigned for the legalization of cannabis, demonstrating his engagement with contemporary social issues and his support for individual liberties. His consistent stance against authoritarianism and his advocacy for democratic values and social progress firmly establish his legacy as a filmmaker with a strong center-left perspective.

3.1. Marriages and Children

Jancsó married Katalin Wowesznyi in 1949. They had two children: a son, Miklós Jancsó Jr. (born 1952), known as Nyika, and a daughter, Katalin Jancsó (born 1955), known as Babus. After their divorce, Jancsó married acclaimed film director Márta Mészáros in 1958. Their marriage lasted for ten years. In 1968, while in Budapest, Jancsó met Italian journalist and script author Giovanna Gagliardo. They subsequently moved to Rome, where Jancsó lived and worked for nearly a decade, with occasional short periods spent back in Budapest. He separated from Gagliardo in 1980. In 1981, he married film editor Zsuzsa Csákány. Together, they had a son, Dávid Jancsó, who also became a film editor, born in 1982.

4.1. Circumstances of Death

Miklós Jancsó died on 31 January 2014, at the age of 92. The cause of his death was lung cancer. His passing was widely mourned in the film world, with fellow Hungarian director Béla Tarr notably calling Jancsó "the greatest Hungarian film director of all time."

5.1. Major Awards and Honors

Jancsó was nominated five times for the Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival, ultimately winning the coveted prize in 1972 for his film Red Psalm. In 1973, he was bestowed with Hungary's highest state honor for artistic achievement, the prestigious Kossuth Prize. His profound impact on cinema was further acknowledged with lifetime achievement awards, first at Cannes in 1979, and then at the Venice Film Festival in 1990. Additionally, he received the Golden Peacock Award at the International Film Festival of India in 1977 for his film Hungarian Rhapsody.

6.1. Positive Assessments

Jancsó's films, particularly those from his breakthrough period in the 1960s and 1970s, garnered widespread critical acclaim. The Round-Up (1965) was hailed by Hungarian film critic Zoltán Fábri as "perhaps the best Hungarian film ever made," and it was included by film critic Derek Malcolm in his list of the 100 greatest films ever made. The Red and the White (1967) received significant critical praise in Western Europe and the United States, earning the Best Foreign Film award from the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics and being featured in the influential book "1001 Films You Must See Before You Die." His 1970s work, characterized by heightened stylization, culminated in Red Psalm (1971), which earned him the Best Director award at Cannes in 1972. While his 1980s films initially faced skepticism, they have more recently been re-evaluated, with some critics considering this period to contain Jancsó's most important works. His 1986 film Season of Monsters, for example, received an honorable mention at Venice for creating "a new picture language." In his later career, the "Pepe and Kapa" films of the late 1990s and 2000s proved surprisingly popular with a new generation of younger viewers, appreciated for their postmodern approach, black, absurd humor, and contemporary relevance. Renowned Hungarian director Béla Tarr famously called Jancsó "the greatest Hungarian film director of all time," a testament to his enduring influence and stature.

6.2. Criticisms and Controversies

Despite widespread acclaim, Jancsó's work and public persona were not without criticism and controversy. During the Communist era in Hungary, he was often criticized by authorities for being formalist, nationalist, and generally perceived as being against the Socialist ideology. This official disapproval stemmed from his independent artistic vision and his allegorical critiques, which often challenged the state's narratives. His films of the 1980s, in particular, received very harsh critical reactions at the time, with some critics accusing him of simply rehashing visual and thematic elements from his previous films, even labeling them as self-parody. This period remains less screened and less understood compared to his earlier works. Furthermore, his Italian films from the 1970s, such as Private Vices, Public Virtues, were critically derided and remain the most obscure part of his filmography, having not undergone the same critical reassessment as his 1980s output. In his later life, Jancsó became a somewhat controversial figure for some of his public claims, such as his wry dismissal of certain aspects of Hungary and its history, reflecting his willingness to provoke and challenge national self-perception.

7.1. Influence on Filmmaking

Jancsó's innovative cinematic techniques, particularly his pioneering use of long takes and complex, meticulously choreographed camera movements, significantly influenced subsequent generations of filmmakers and artistic movements worldwide. His approach transformed the camera from a static observer into an active participant, creating a unique visual language that explored space, power dynamics, and human relationships in a fluid, immersive manner. While he later moved away from these specific techniques in some of his films, their initial impact was undeniable, inspiring directors to experiment with extended takes and dynamic cinematography. Furthermore, his later "Pepe and Kapa" films, with their postmodern, contemporary approach, black, absurd humor, and integration of popular music and personalities, resonated strongly with young cinephiles, influencing a new generation of Hungarian filmmakers. Jancsó also actively supported emerging talent, making guest appearances in films by young, up-and-coming Hungarian directors, further cementing his role as a mentor and an enduring figure in the national cinema.

7.2. Social and Cultural Significance

The social and cultural resonance of Jancsó's films is deeply rooted in their powerful commentary on Hungarian history, politics, and societal transformations. His works often served as allegorical critiques of Hungary under Communism and Soviet occupation, using historical events as a lens to explore universal themes of power, oppression, and resistance. Films like The Round-Up and The Red and the White provided critical perspectives on historical conflicts, while The Confrontation examined the complexities of the Communist-era education system. In his later "Pepe and Kapa" series, Jancsó revisited traumatic historical events such as the Holocaust and the 1526 defeat to the Ottomans, often using these narratives to provoke a critical self-reflection among Hungarians about their understanding of their own history. By consistently engaging with the nation's past and present, Jancsó's films played a significant role in public discourse, offering a nuanced and often challenging perspective on Hungarian identity, political systems, and the enduring struggle for freedom and justice.

8.1. Feature Films

• The Bells Have Gone to Rome (1958)
• Három csillag (1960)
• Cantata (Oldás és kötés) (1962)
• My Way Home (Így jöttem) (1964)
• The Round-Up (Szegénylegények) (1965)
• The Red and the White (Csillagosok, katonák) (1967)
• Silence and Cry (Csend és kiáltás) (1968)
• The Confrontation (Fényes szelek) (1969)
• Sirokkó (Winter Wind) (1969)
• Decameron '69 (1969)
• The Pacifist (1970)
• Agnus dei (1971)
• La tecnica e il rito (TV movie, 1971)
• Red Psalm (Még kér a nép) (1971)
• Roma rivuole Cesare (TV movie, 1974)
• Electra, My Love (Szerelmem, Elektra) (1974)
• Private Vices, Public Virtues (Vizi privati, pubbliche virtù) (1976)
• Hungarian Rhapsody (Magyar rapszódia) (1978)
• Allegro barbaro (1979)
• The Tyrant's Heart (A zsarnok szíve, avagy Boccaccio Magyarországon) (1981)
• Faustus doktor boldogságos pokoljárása (TV mini-series, 1984)
• Omega, Omega, Omega (TV movie, 1984)
• Dawn (A hajnal) (1986)
• Season of Monsters (Szörnyek évadja) (1987)
• Jesus Christ's Horoscope (Jézus Krisztus horoszkópja) (1989)
• God Walks Backwards (Isten hátrafelé megy) (1990)
• Blue Danube Waltz (Kék Duna keringő) (1991)
• The Lord's Lantern in Budapest (Nekem lámpást adott kezembe az Úr Pesten) (1999)
• Mother! The Mosquitoes (Anyád! A szúnyogok) (2000)
• Last Supper at the Arabian Gray Horse (2001)
• Wake Up, Mate, Don't You Sleep (2002)
• A mohácsi vész (2004)
• Ede megevé ebédem (2006)
• So Much for Justice! (2010)

8.2. Documentaries and Shorts

• Jelenlét (short) (1965)
• Közelről: a vér (short) (1966)
• Vörös május (1968)
• Füst (1970)
• Laboratorio teatrale di Luca Ronconi (TV documentary) (1977)
• Második jelenlét (documentary short) (1978)
• Muzsika (TV movie) (1984)
• Harmadik jelenlét (documentary short) (1986)
• A kövek üzenete - Budapest (documentary series: part 1) (1994)
• A kövek üzenete - Máramaros (documentary series: part 2) (1994)
• A kövek üzenete - Hegyalja (documentary series: part 3) (1994)
• Szeressük egymást, gyerekek! (segment "Anagy agyhalal/The Great Brain Death") (1996)
• Hősök tere - régi búnk és... I (short) (1997)
• Játssz, Félix, játssz! (documentary) (1997)
• Hősök tere - régi búnk és... II (short) (1997)
• Sír a madár (1998)
• Európából Európába (documentary short) (segment 3) (2004)

8.3. Newsreel Documentaries

• Kezünkbe vettük a béke ügyét (1950)
• A szovjet mezőgazdasági küldöttek tanításai (1951)
• A 8. szabad május 1 (1952)
• Közös után (1953)
• Arat az orosházi Dózsa (1953)
• Ősz Badacsonyban (1954)
• Galga mentén (1954)
• Emberek! Ne engedjétek! (1954)
• Éltető Tisza-víz (1954)
• Egy kiállítás képei (1954)
• Varsói világifjúsági talákozó I-III (1955)
• Emlékezz, ifjúság! (1955)
• Egy délután Koppánymonostorban (1955)
• Angyalföldi fiatalok (1955)
• Móricz Zsigmond 1879-1942 (1956)
• Színfoltok Kínából (1957)
• Peking palotái (1957)
• Kína vendégei voltunk (1957)
• Dél-Kína tájain (1957)
• A város peremén (1957)
• Derkovits Gyula 1894-1934 (1958)
• Izotópok a gyógyászatban (1959)
• Halhatatlanság (1959)
• Az eladás művészete (1960)
• Indiántörténet (1961)
• Az idő kereke (1961)
• Alkonyok és hajnalok (1961)
• Hej, te eleven fa... (1963)