






Budapest, Hungary, Christmas 1957. The state, insecure after the defeated revolution of 1956 and increasingly put under the influence of a renewed Stalinist atmosphere, has decreed that all security officials must pass an exam to verify their loyalty. But to be actually effective in a shadowy world where suspicion and secrets reign, the subjects must be unaware that they are being tested.
Acting
Kulka's trembling restraint—every blink is a confession.
Cinematography
Snow-blind exteriors vs. yellowed interiors: beauty as prison.
Writing
Dialogue so coded it needs its own decoder ring.

Director
Péter Bergendy
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