EINE ERKLÄRUNG FÜR ALLES

Ábel is facing his oral history A-level exam in Budapest, but instead of studying he’s thinking about Janka, with whom he’s in love and who doesn’t return his feelings. The history teacher fails him in the exam. On the lapel of Ábel’s jacket that day is a cockade in the Hungarian colours – a badge worn on the national holiday that otherwise passes as a declaration of allegiance to the nationalist right. Ábel’s father is convinced his son failed because of the cockade, and the story reaches the press. “Eine Erklärung für alles” by the Hungarian director Gábor Reisz (Hungary/Slovakia, 2023) tells how a botched exam becomes a political affair in which everyone has their own truth.

Reisz shows events from shifting points of view and lets the divisions in the country become visible at a breakfast table and in a classroom. The film premiered at Venice in 2023 and won the top prize of the Orizzonti section there. It was shown at Around the World in 14 Films in Berlin in 2024, in the Grandfilm Birthday Night section.

Shown at the 2024 edition of Around the World in 14 Films.

All films 2024 · Film Archive