The World of Movies: Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time
Written by Rachael Crawley
The World of Movies is a series that explores global cinema, drawing on films from many countries, industries and eras. This week, we question our past and present in Hungary.
Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time.
May contain spoilers.
Ever since this column began, I’ve wanted to review Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time (Lili Horvát, 2020). I first heard of this movie in the early months of the pandemic, and its title stuck in my head. At that moment, we were all preparing to be together with our loved ones for an unknown period of time. I imagined a movie about great crisis, about people forced to cling to each other through unnavigated territory.
Well – I got it wrong in terms of content, but thematically, I don’t think I was entirely off base. The film itself has nothing to do with COVID (or any disaster). Even so, its focus on uncertainty, on the instability of modern communication and the damage that can result from our connections, is entirely relevant to the early 2020s. It is not a clearcut story of right and wrong, even as the characters behave well or badly. Instead, this film is concerned with personal upheaval, and the effect that a few chance moments can have on someone’s life.
Márta (Natasa Stork) returns to Budapest after many years in the United States. She recounts a brief love affair she had at a recent conference. Upon arrival, she is scheduled to meet with her lover János (Viktor Bodó). When she finally finds him, he insists that he had no plans with her, and has in fact never seen her in his life.
Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time.
This incident leaves Márta confused and reeling. A high-level neurosurgeon, she gives up her career in New Jersey and pivots to Budapest. As she adjusts, somewhat bumpily, to her new life, she increasingly dwells on János. While her professional life soon takes off, this (non?) encounter continues to weigh her down. It soon turns into an obsession. She wonders if she is losing her grip on reality, begins to seek help – and then crosses paths with János in her daily life.
The movie has a glorious palette of colours, blended perfectly while allowing small portions of the image to shine. Each image is rich. This is not a film particularly given to spectacular vistas and glorious landscapes, but its closeups and city streets are just as beautiful. The film’s lighting team deserves a special shout-out here – light and shadow make up a huge part of this beauty. The movie is also very elegantly laid out and well-plotted, never confusing despite its tangled characters.
Preparations would not work at all without Natasa Stork, whose performance is complex and enigmatic. She conveys Márta’s internal conflict while rarely letting it show – her anguish and constant questioning are entirely conveyed in the most subtle methods, while she remains elegant and unruffled. Where other movies might make Márta’s journey over-the-top and frightening, here it is surprisingly delicate, even mundane.
Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time.
Ultimately, it is a movie that is difficult to pin down. It dives deep into the character’s psychology, but I think stops short of being a psychological drama – she is bothered and questions herself after this encounter, but does not have a cliched cinematic breakdown. While she and János are both flawed, neither are particularly terrible people. One great question lingers at the centre of the film, but seems to be somewhat beside the point. Whether or not the encounter happened, the film is far more concerned with the way it caused a detour in her life.
Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time is a deeply layered character study. It refuses to go in predictable directions. Its excellent lead performance and gorgeous camera work add to a thoughtful and complex piece of filmmaking.
Rachael Crawley holds a Master's Degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from X University (formerly known as Ryerson), and has worked with film in Canada and in Europe. She adores language and cinema, and how these subjects interact with each other.