Behind Mephisto

Revedem Meeting Venus (regia:Istvan Szabo, 1991) – interesantă reconstituire a construcţiei unui spectacol de operă wagnerian (Tannhäuser), pus în scenă la Paris (la Opera Europa!) cu o trupă etnic eterogenă de profesionişti, reunind artişti din întreaga Europă. Condiţia artistului (un muzician-dirijor, o cântăreaţă de operă, alături de întreaga distribuţie), condiţia artistului din blocul est-european (proaspăt demolat) angajat „cu contract” în occident (prilej de divergenţe etnice etc.) şi câteva interpretări de neuitat: Niels Arestrup, Erland Josephson, Glenn Close, Marian Labuda (şoferul de camion din Sătucul meu drag de Jiri Menzel), Johanna ter Steege (Saskia din Vanishing-ul olandez) etc.


Pe imdb găsesc un comentariu demascator la adresa lui Istvan Szabo, semnat Jakab Gipsz: „The one and only Oscar winner Hungarian director to date (2006). He received the award for his 1981 movie Mephisto. In January 2006 it became public that he was an agent of the III/III department, a formal communist agency of interior intelligence. After the revolution in 1956 he was blackmailed and forced to cooperate, though later he was considered willingly cooperative. He wrote reports about fellow Hungarian directors, actors and actresses like Miklós Jancsó, Mari Töröcsik, Károly Mécs. An acknowledged Hungarian journalist (Zsolt Bayer) has reported: "This is the time to re-watch Mephisto. It has just become obvious that he directed his own story in the movie. Masterfully." He recognized the charges immediately, and considered his agent-work heroic and needful, claiming he has saved the life of a friend sentenced to death for his involvement in the revolution of 1956.”