Sunset. László Nemes’s Dostoyevskian portrait of a dying empire.

Sunset
Directed by László Nemes
Cinematography Mátyás Erdély
2018

Set in fin de siècle Budapest, Sunset is a Dostoyevskian portrait of the final embers of the Austro-Hungarian empire guttering out in a maelstrom of anarchism, nihilism crime and unexpressed and inexpressible secrets.
The film follows a young woman, Irisz , as she returns to her home city, seeking to reconnect with her past and piece together a sense of belonging. Neither she nor the audience can determine whether those people whom she meets — the courtly businessman who has inherited her parents’ shop, the beautiful shop manager, the errand boy and the coachman — are friend or foe.

And what about her mysterious brother? Is he indeed a murderous monster, or is he a freedom fighter? Can he be both? And the enigmatic, dishevelled Countess — what part does she play?

Filmed in suitably gilded tones, while suggesting the heat-haze of a Central European summer, Mátyás Erdély’s constantly moving, subjective camera hides as much as it reveals. This period drama creates wonderful glimpses like a looking glass into the past, then quickly dissolves them.