Taxidermia (2006)

	Directed by: György Pálfi	COUNTRY Hungary/Austria/France GENRE Comedy/Drama INTERNATIONAL TITLE Taxidermia NORWEGIAN TITLE Taxidermia RUNNING TIME 91 minutes
	Produced by: Alexander Dumreicher-Ivanceanu Emilie Georges Gabriele Kranzelbinder Alexandre Mallet-Guy
	Written by (based on short stories by Lajos Parti Nagy): György Pálfi Zsófia Ruttkay

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Morosgoványi	Csaba Czene
Balatony Kálmán	Gergely Trócsányi	½
Balatony Lajoska	Marc Bischoff
Hadnagyné	Piroska Molnár
Aczél Gizi	Adél Stanczel
Dr. Regõczy Andor	Géza D. Hegedüs

Review

Director György Pálfi draws inspiration from Peter Greenaway and David Cronenberg in this black comedy centered around three generations of obsessions in pre- to post-communist Hungary. The explicit themes are sex, food, and the (im)mortality of the human body, and Pálfi makes it all come alive through his vivid lens and his great feel for set pieces. In certain segments, Taxidermia achieves a riveting effect, as Pálfi's images balance playfully between the visceral and the aesthetic, between the ugly and the beautiful. The social commentary included has a Kaurismäkian quality, and Pálfi's fine command of the timeline he presents gives the film relevance in a political and social context. Seen as a reaction to communist rationalisation, Kálmán's gluttony must naturally be put to an end by post-communist Lajoska. A top-notch musical score by Amon Tobin caps this original film.