Jutka, a young woman who works in a factory, falls in love with Andras, a university student. She pretends to be a student, to him and to his parents, and begins to live a lie. Finally she rebels against Andras and his demands and the social conventions that forced her to live a lie.
Direction
Mészáros's unflinching gaze—no melodrama, just suffocating truth.
Acting
Kútvölgyi's face holds entire class systems in a single glance.
Director
Márta Mészáros
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Mészáros was the first woman to win the Golden Bear at Berlinale (for 1975's Adoption). Riddance shows her early mastery of 'socialist neorealism'—stories the regime allowed because they appeared to critique class, not communism itself.
The film's Hungarian title 'Eltávozás' means 'departure' or 'leaving'—suggesting Jutka's final act isn't just rejection of Andras, but an existential exit from the entire social order she tried to infiltrate.
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