The setting is a Central European kingdom, near the turn of the century. Bored by his very proper wife, the youthful heir to the throne spends his time in amorous dalliances at a sprawling country estate. His wife departs at the arrival of his friends, and they organize a celebration which becomes a wild orgy and culminates in death and tragedy.
Direction
Jancsó's hypnotic long takes turn debauchery into ballet.
Cinematography
Sweeping camera circles that trap you in aristocratic hell.
Director
Miklós Jancsó
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Loosely based on the real Mayerling incident of 1889, where Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria and his mistress died in an apparent murder-suicide that destabilized the Habsburg empire.
Jancsó filmed the entire orgy sequence in genuine continuous takes, forcing actors through hours of choreographed movement — the exhaustion you see is real.
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