Another Way

Opening and closing - in a circular flashback movement - on the classic cold war cliché of the corpse by the mist-enshrouded watchtower, this film cunningly undercuts expectations aroused by its 1958 Hungarian setting. For the body belongs to a female reporter punished for loving Truth, Freedom and Beauty - in the form of other women. Probing the interface of professional and sexual integrity, Makk troublingly links 'deviant' lesbianism with a commitment to impeccably democratic ideals. Not just a film of Big Themes, though: the love scenes sail close to the wind, steering an unsteady course between voyeurism and candour.