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nini23's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.0
I love Faustian bargains, and this involves the exchange of musical talent and freedom from a predetermined constricted life in a Hungarian setting. Sandor Esterhazy comes from a long line of distinguished musicians and he is expected to enter the Academy of Music to follow in the family's footsteps. The problem is that he has neither inclination nor talent at the piano. In a fit, he performs a ritual in a forest to summon the Devil. After the damned agreement, there is a created doppelganger of Sandor, intended to be a replacement in his life while he goes free. This replica he names Ferdi who we meet a decade later living an independent life as a dishwasher at a tavern. The tale is bleak and menacing, shards of light in Ferdi's life are in his found family Dieter, Erzsi and Petar. His undeniable skill at the piano also leads to some lovely mentors giving him a legup in performance exposure. Ferdi though struggles with the question of whether he is real and what nefarious purpose he was created for. Both Sandor and the Devil reappear in his life, whoever sees both him and Sandor mark them as unnatural monsters.
A gothic feverish claustrophobic dream involving dark alleys, murders, a resurrection and rings along the Danube River in abandoned mansions.
A gothic feverish claustrophobic dream involving dark alleys, murders, a resurrection and rings along the Danube River in abandoned mansions.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, and Confinement
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