Directed by Miklós Jancsó
Screenplay by Gyula Hernádi
Director of photography: János Kende
Music by Tihamér Vujicsics
Cast: Jacques Charrier, Marina Vlady, Eva Swann
Genre: historical parable
Production: MAFILM, Les Films Marquise

The theme Jancsó keeps returning to, the relationship between power and violence, is examined in this story set in the 1930s. Somewhere on the south Slavic border, a secret militia training camp operates on a remote estate: Croatian separatists are preparing to assassinate the Serb monarch. Yet here the emphasis is not on the specifics but far more on the way history repeats itself. Jancsó’s ‘regular’ actors are joined by international stars; Marina Vlady and Jacques Charrier partake of the waltz of arms and political slogans.

NFI Hungary – Film Archive