Family Nest (Hungarian: Családi tűzfészek) is a 1979 Hungarian black-and-white drama film, directed by Béla Tarr. The film won Grand Prize at the 1979 Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival, tying with the film El Super.
Contents
Premise
Irén lives with her daughter in her in-laws’ small apartment in the center of Budapest. Her husband has just returned from his national service, and their relationship is deteriorating. Soon, Irén wants to leave the family—but her rehousing request gets caught up in the Communist administration.
Cast
Irén Szajki as Irén
László Horváth as Laci
Gábor Kun as Laci’s Father
Gáborné Kun as Laci’s Mother
Reception
Family Nest received moderately positive reviews from film critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 80% of 5 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.9/10. Jonathan Rosenbaum of Chicago Reader wrote, "This is strong stuff, but the highly formal director of Almanac of Fall, Damnation, and Satantango is still far from apparent." Keith Uhlich of Slant Magazine rated the film 2/4 stars and called the characters "unconvincing mouthpieces for a highly unsubtle political critique."
Home Release
The latest and highest quality release of Family Nest is in the Béla Tarr | A Curzon Collection which was released by Curzon and presents the film in HD.