The Girl

Márta Mészáros's 1968 Hungarian film follows a young woman raised in a state orphanage. Erzsi travels to a village to find her mother; the woman recognises her but refuses to say in front of others that she is her daughter. The subject is what follows that refusal. Erzsi returns to the city and goes on working at the factory; the narrative produces no resolution and shows that the coercion of the village and the freedom of the city lead to the same trap. Mészáros came from documentary and this is her first feature; it is counted as the first feature directed by a woman in Hungarian cinema. The telling is plain, the dialogue sparse and the camera mostly in an observing position. Who it's for: those who follow Eastern European cinema and the early work of women directors. Who it's not for: viewers expecting an emotional reunion; the film deliberately withholds it.