Adoption

Adoption

Directed by Márta Mészáros • 1975 • Hungary
Starring Katalin Berek, Gyöngyvér Vígh, László Szabó

Trailblazing auteur Márta Mészáros gives aching expression to the experiences of women in 1970s Hungary in this sensitive and absorbing drama, which became the first film directed by a woman to win the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. Through intimate camera work, ADOPTION immerses the viewer in the worlds of two women, each searching for fulfillment: Kata (Katalin Berek), a middle-aged factory worker who wants to have a child with her married lover, and Anna (Gyöngyvér Vígh), a teenage ward of the state determined to emancipate herself in order to marry her boyfriend. The bond that forms between the two speaks quietly but powerfully to the social and political forces that shape women’s lives, as each navigates the realities of love, marriage, and motherhood in her quest for self-determination.

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Adoption
  • Adoption
    1:28:00
    Adoption

    Adoption

    Directed by Márta Mészáros • 1975 • Hungary
    Starring Katalin Berek, Gyöngyvér Vígh, László Szabó

    Trailblazing auteur Márta Mészáros gives aching expression to the experiences of women in 1970s Hungary in this sensitive and absorbing drama, which became the first film directed by a woman to win t...

Extras

  • The World of Márta Mészáros
    20:06
    The World of Márta Mészáros

    The World of Márta Mészáros

    This video essay by Catherine Portuges, created in 2021, offers a close read of director Márta Mészáros’s aesthetic sensibility and thematic preoccupations.

  • Márta Mészáros on ADOPTION
    09:15
    Márta Mészáros on ADOPTION

    Márta Mészáros on ADOPTION

    ADOPTION was the first film by a woman to win the prestigious Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. Director Márta Mészáros reflects on the experience and the film’s production, in this interview shot by the National Film Institute Hungary in Berlin in 2019.

  • Blow-Ball
    21:39
    Blow-Ball

    Blow-Ball

    Directed by Márta Mészáros • 1964 • Hungary

    Like ADOPTION, this 1964 short film by Márta Mészáros explores the themes of broken family bonds; it also offers insight into the origins of the director’s career.

  • Márta Mészáros—Portrait of the Hungarian Film Director
    57:14
    Márta Mészáros—Portrait of the Hungarian Film Director

    Márta Mészáros—Portrait of the Hungarian Film Director

    In 1978, German filmmaker Katja Raganelli set out for Budapest to capture Márta Mészáros at work on the set of her ninth feature, ON THE MOVE. The result is an intimate portrait of Mészáros’s life and approach to her craft, featuring interviews with the director as well as close collaborators.

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