My Twentieth Century

A poetic, surreal black-and-white debut by Hungarian director Ildikó Enyedi from 1989 - a film that stands at the intersection of fairy tale, historical reverie, and philosophical reflection on the twentieth century and the role of modern humanity, which through civilizational progress set something sinister in motion.

The story follows twins Dóra and Lili, born in 1880 in Budapest at the moment when Thomas Edison presents the electric light bulb to the world. The sisters soon lose their parents, are separated from each other, and set out on different paths: one grows into a naively idealistic anarchist terrorist, the other into a spoiled hedonistic courtesan. Their paths cross again on the Orient Express on New Year's Eve 1899.

Enyedi weaves together real memories, historical events, metaphors, and magical wonder in her images - as if the film itself were dreaming about the entire past century.