Megáll az idö (1982)

In November 1956, the head of the Köves family urges his wife and children to leave Budapest, but Éva wants to stay, and the boys choose her. So the man defectes alone, and the film continues in 1963 at Dini’s high school, where Szukics Magda falls in love at first sight during a dance lesson. The girl tries to get the boy’s attention by claiming that she has been with Pierre, a fourth-year student. Later, Vilma brings in her father’s pornographic pictures to show Dini, who comes up with the idea of selling them to the fourth-years. Under this pretext, he speaks to Pierre for the first time, though Pierre has no idea who the girl in question is. Deputy headmaster Rajnák searches the class for the pictures, but form teacher Szombathy pretends not to find them in Dini’s pocket. He gives the boy a verbal reprimand, talks about the sanctity of sex, and also announces that he is leaving the school on orders from above. His place is taken by a teacher nicknamed “Pigface,” who tells the boy, when he asks, that the change happened because they want to turn the school into a model institution, and Mr. Szombathy did not fit that image. At home, we learn that Dini’s older brother, Gábor, was not accepted into university because of their father, and the family soon gains a stepfather of sorts in Bodor, who has just been released from prison. Tired of Dini not returning her love, Szukics sleeps with Gábor, while Bodor comforts the boy over a few drinks—or perhaps teaches him cynicism. He warns Dini not to make a fuss or draw attention to himself, using his own example to show that nothing good comes of it. Taking his advice, Dini stops speaking up in class, which soon catches the attention of the new form teacher. To get her off his back, he tells her he is in love with her. During the headmaster’s speech commemorating the Communists’ victory, Pierre interrupts by shouting nonsense into the microphone. Meanwhile, teacher Lovas sends Dini out of the classroom after he giggles at the words “prole” and “puli.” Deputy headmaster Rajnák makes an issue of it, and the boys receive formal reprimands from the headmaster. Éva tries to bribe the teacher at her home to get her son out of trouble. Here, and in a later scene, we learn that the teacher’s marriage is dysfunctional: her husband fell out of favor after 1956 and suffered a nervous breakdown, and she, too, is forced to work as a teacher. Despite this, she embraces the system’s gesture of faith in her and teaches in the hope that the new generation will put right what they got wrong. Bodor finds himself in a similar position: he becomes a member of a government committee, a role he accepts for fear of becoming dishonest. Pierre causes a disturbance at school and then jumps out of a window to escape Rajnák. To Dini’s surprise, he meets Pierre again in the hospital where his brother works. Gábor has called him there to make peace with him over Magda, with the help of a female colleague. Gábor and Pierre are planning to go to America, since Gábor has once again failed to get into medical school. They hold a house party at the Lovas home, where Vilma offers Pierre Coca-Cola and Philip Morris cigarettes brought from London, while a Little Richard cassette she also brought plays on the tape deck (the film also features songs by Elvis Presley and Paul Anka, among others). It turns out that, thanks to Bodor’s intervention, Gábor has nevertheless been admitted to medical school, so the drunk Dini decides at the party that he will go to America with Pierre instead. Szukics Magda joins them in the car along the way, and after a long argument they finally make up; the couple become lovers on the shore of Lake Balaton. Magda does not want to go with them to America, so Pierre and Dini set off alone, but Dini changes his mind too. Pierre warns him that he will have no opportunities at home and will become like the teacher’s husband, but Dini has already made his decision, so he takes the train back to Budapest with Magda. On New Year’s Eve 1967, a montage reveals that Pigface is now with Rajnák and they have a child together; Gábor is experimenting like a mad scientist instead of studying; and Éva’s husband has returned from abroad, so the three of them celebrate the New Year with Bodor. Finally, we see Dini, completely drunk and alone, urinating in the street while off-duty as a soldier, as Magda and her husband walk past with their child. Magda recognizes Dini and wants to speak to him, but her husband stops her.