The Tragedy of Man

Marcell Jankovics's 2011 Hungarian animation, adapted from Imre Madách's nineteenth-century play, took the director twenty-five years. It follows Adam seeing his own future across different ages of history: Egypt, Athens, Rome, the French Revolution, the industrial age and beyond. The formal choice is extraordinary: each historical section is drawn in the visual art of its period; the Egyptian section as relief, the Athenian as vase painting, the industrial age in the aesthetic of engraving. That is a rare undertaking in the history of animation. The narrative is heavy and philosophical; it is a difficult structure to watch in a cinema and runs two and a half hours. Who it's for: viewers interested in the history of animation and philosophical narrative. Who it's not for: anyone wanting narrative flow, or who will find a dense textual structure wearing.