THE WITMAN BOYS

STORY Tibor MATHE - DOP Janos SZASZ - Director
STORY

Hungary 1914 in a small town. The Witman brothers, Janos 14 and Erno 12 years old are now raised by a young maid and their mother after their father's death. But the charming Mrs.Witmen is completely devoted to her lover, who already lives in the household. Janos and Ermo find their lives suddenly free of rules, discipline-and love. So the two sons choose to live in their own weird and violent world. Both dismayed and fascinated by death, the brothers capture and kill an owl that haunts the graveyard where their father is buried. With the attentions of their mother focused on her live-in lover, the boys begin calling on a local prostitute named Iren to satisfy their own burgeoning sexual curiosities. Iren caters to their needs charitably at first, but soon tires of their frequent and unexpected visits and demands gifts in exchange for her favors. A ruby pendant belonging to the boys' mother becomes an ideal prospect for such a gift-and the impetus for a horrible crime as well. Just like they sacrificed animals to exorcise their father's death they will sacrifice their mother.

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Tibor MATHE - DOP

In the film THE WITMAN BOYS Tibor Mathe's cinematography evokes the haunting expressionism of silent German Cinema and helps give this film its disturbing, eerie resonance.

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rezWitman.jpg (7149 bytes) Janos SZASZ - Director

Janos Szasz was born in Budapest in l958. He studied drama and stage direction at the Academy of Theater and Film Arts, and spent four important years at the National Theater Budapest. For the stage, he directed "Ghosts" by Henrik Ibsen, "The Deer King" by Carlo Gozzi and "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams. He has also directed films and TV Series. His long feature films Are: DON'T DISTURB(1990),WOYZECK(1994) and THE WITMAN BOYS(1997).

-"Showing violence itself was not my purpose…I look for a peculiar rhythm, colours close to monochromy precisely for the audience to watch participate to and understand the images " from inside ". In that sense I feel very close to Bergman and Tarkovski's films, they represent my ideal of film. In "The Witman Boys" such as in my previous films, I have been trying to recreate particular and fascinating atmospheres but I don't necessarily subscribe to them. These atmospheres remind me of disturbing ones etched on our memories".(Janos Szasz)

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