Sunshine

A long film about three generations of a family in Hungary. The Sonnenschein family comes in from the country and grows rich in Budapest making a herbal liqueur. The recipe comes down from the grandfather and gives the family a position. The film tells three generations in order. In the first, the son wants to be a judge and changes the family name for it. In the second, the grandson represents the country in fencing; he becomes an Olympic champion and his belief that this will protect him proves mistaken. In the third, the postwar period arrives and a new regime expects a new conformity from the same family. The idea is that a family tries three times to adapt to three different powers and arrives at the same result each time. Ralph Fiennes plays the man of each of the three generations. Rosemary Harris, Jennifer Ehle, Rachel Weisz and William Hurt are in the cast. István Szabó directed. It runs close to three hours. It is a co-production between Hungary, Germany, Canada and Austria. A comprehensive production for anyone who likes historical family sagas and Central European history. For a viewer who wants something short, the film is very long and summarises some passages in voiceover.