
Acting
László Szabó
Born 1936-03-24 · Budapest, Hungary
László Szabó (born 24 March 1936) is a Hungarian actor, film director and screenwriter. Since 1952, he has appeared in more than 120 films. These include seven films that have been screened at the Cannes Film Festival. He was born to Béla Szabó and Margit Gulyás. Between 1954-1956 he was a student at the Budapest University of Technology , during which he performed in an amateur theater group. He applied to the Theater and Film Academy as an actor, but was not accepted. He left the country in the fall of 1956 and went to Paris . Like the French new wavers, he also visited Henri Langlois ' "liberty university of film history" at the Cinématheque, watched the film series, met and talked to the directors who presented their films, and while writing in the "cahiers", interviewed Buster Keaton together with Jacques Rivette . He and a friend dropped by on the set of Chabrol (Cousins), from whom he immediately received a one-sentence role. And in his next film, Locked with the Key , a longer one. After that, Godard gave him the role of the interrogator in The Little Soldier , which was followed by other roles in more recent Godard films. He is the favorite character actor of all the directors of the new wave, everyone has a role for him, they entrust him with strange, boho characters, who always have some disturbing and annoying ulterior motives. He also took a liking to directing, and made two new-wave French films. Truffaut wrote an appreciative review of the amusing film noir The White Gloves of the Devil . Zig-Zig was played by the new wave's favorite anti-star actress, Bernadette Lafont , and a cool star, Catherine Deneuve . This is also where the self-confidence and sardonic pungency of the new wavers can be felt. Like all actor-directors, he brought out the best in his actresses, skillfully mixing dark humor and tenderness. In the meantime, from the end of the 1960s he appeared in Hungarian films, and after many character roles, he got the lead role from Zsolt Kézdi-Kovács : Miklós Dibusz, the big snooty, sumák organizer, The nice neighbor . His first and so far the only Hungarian-French direction was based on Nándor Gion's novel: Sortűz for a Black Buffalo , and his first and so far only Hungarian direction: The Man Who Slept During the Day
Acting credits
6.8Successful surgeon Tomas leaves Prague for an operation, meets a young photographer named Tereza, and brings her back with him. Tereza is surprised to learn that Tomas is already having an affair with the bohemian Sabina, but when the Soviet invasion occurs, all three flee to Switzerland. Sabina begins an affair, Tom continues womanizing, and Tereza, disgusted, returns to Czechoslovakia. Realizing his mistake, Tomas decides to chase after her.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
1988
6.9Despite his lack of political convictions, photojournalist Bruno Forestier is roped into a paramilitary group waging a shadow war in Geneva against the Algerian independence movement.
Le Petit Soldat
1963
7.2In occupied Paris, an actress wed to a Jewish theater owner must keep him hidden from the Nazis while doing both of their jobs.
The Last Metro
1980
7.7Twelve episodic tales in the life of a Parisian woman and her slow descent into prostitution.
Vivre Sa Vie
1962
7.3Pierrot escapes his boring society and travels from Paris to the Mediterranean Sea with Marianne, a girl chased by hit-men from Algeria. They lead an unorthodox life, always on the run.
Pierrot le Fou
1965
6.9Lemmy Caution is on a mission to eliminate Professor Von Braun, the creator of a malevolent computer that rules the city of Alphaville. Befriended by the scientist’s daughter Natasha, Lemmy must unravel the mysteries of the strictly logical Alpha 60 and teach Natasha the meaning of the word “love.”
Alphaville
1965
4.6This film, set at the beginning of the 17th century, is the first East-European "Eastern". Bocskai István orders the free Heyducks to shepherd a huge herd of cattle through the country torn to three parts, to the Dalmatian coast, where he can get weapons in exchange, for fighting the Austrians.
Unruly Heyducks
1974
7.4In 1950s communist Czechoslovakia, a government minister, a war veteran long a loyal party man, leads a relatively comfortable life with his wife. However, he soon finds himself under surveillance, then under arrest. Unclear what his offense is, agents for the totalitarian regime interrogate and torture him, aiming to use their unending power to gain a false confession for these supposed crimes against the state.
The Confession
1970
9.0Laci and the divorced Klári decide to commit suicide, since neither's parents give them shelter, they have no place to sleep, no decent job and no future. Béla, who lives on stealing cars, joins them. He has a gun. Based on a true story.
The Fatal Shot
1968
7.8Fanfan leaves his friend Charles and thinks he can be accommodated by his friend, Joss. However, at the same time, Joss abandons the marital home. Fanfan and Joss have only to knock on the door of Manu, Fanfan's sister, who gathers them until Mytch, Manu's companion, throws everyone out. The three young women find themselves in the street and continue their run, while their lovers gang up to track them down. The mini-war of the sexes will flare up.
On appelle ça… le printemps
2001
6.9A supposedly idyllic weekend trip to the countryside turns into a never-ending nightmare of traffic jams, revolution, cannibalism and murder as French bourgeois society starts to collapse under the weight of its own consumer preoccupations.
Weekend
1967
7.0Stephen, living in a troubled family, breaks into a grocery store and wreaks vandalism. He is sent to a reform school. Later he works in a cleaning brigade and accidentally meets József Draskóczi, who denounced him. Draskóczi lives in an unloving, troubled atmosphere with his barren daughter and cynical son-in-law, ascetic about his youthful communist beliefs. He feels responsible for Istvan's fate, offering him a human voice and love. Despite his daughter's hysterical jealousy, he sends Istvan to school and then, through his previous connections, provides him with an apartment...
Minden szerdán
1979
4.2Three girls: Susanne, Annie and Catherine, just have finished high school and meet every night to have a good time in discos and bars with frequently changing boyfriends. Susanne’s younger sister Betty often joins them and copies their behavior, believes everything they say. So she soon ends up with with projectionist George – although she doesn’t take the pill yet.
Girls
1980
6.2The story of a woman that remained distracted for a long time from her life, from the passions that made her feel alive. The importance of true love is compared with the material value of diamonds. Only one truly lasts forever. She's got to find the thing that values most for her, the thing that gives psychical stability and real happiness again to her life.
Place Vendôme
1998
6.8Feeling suffocated by a possessive boyfriend, work and suburban life, a young woman starts spending the weekends in her Paris apartment in order to reclaim some of her lost freedom.
Full Moon in Paris
1984
6.4Tsar Alexandre II meets a young student, Katia. He understands that he loves her and try to send her away but they end up seeing each other again and becomes his mistress. With the help of Katia, Alexandre prepares a liberal constitution, but these reforms make him hostile to the more privileged subjects without satirising the revolutionaries against the regime.
Katia
1959
8.0Two Hungarian documentary makers, having heard nothing about their countryman Mickey Hargitay for almost 15 years, embark on a quest for the former body-builder/B-movie star. They cross America and find Mickey, living quietly in Southern California, running his businesses and raising his children, who have names like Mariska (ring a bell?) and Zoltan, speak Hungarian, and look like Jane Mansfield (of course).
Mr. Universe
1988
5.5Just as the disheveled and alcoholic filmmaker Ismaël embarks on a difficult new film project, his life is sent into a tailspin. His wife Carlotta, presumed dead for 20 years, come crashing back into his life creating chaos in his work and his current romantic relationship with the starry-eyed astronomer Sylvia.
Ismael's Ghosts
2017
5.6While shooting a film, the director becomes interested in the unfolding struggle of a young factory worker that has been laid off by a boss who did not like her union activities.
Godard's Passion
1982
6.5On receiving a letter from her mother, a quiet working-class girl leaves the state orphanage in Budapest where she grew up and takes a trip to the rural countryside to visit her.
The Girl
1968
Making of Jean Luc Godard's Alphaville (1965)
The Outskirts of Alphaville
2003
4.0Francois (Pierre-Loup Rajot) has just moved into a small community in the French Pyrenees mountains. He applies for work at a small logging mill, run with great craftsmanship but indifferent business skill by Favier (Guy Marchand), the son-in-law of the owner, Mathieu (Serge Reggiani). Francois has an ally in another man who works at the mill, Cyuri (Wotjek Pszoniak), who had formerly been his mother's lover. With his help, he easily settles into his job. He also quickly becomes the lover of his boss's wife Marie (Julie Jezequel). This leads to complications for all concerned, but as decent people, they find themselves at something of a standoff and are unable to resolve the situation easily.
Coupe franche
1989
6.4A French diplomat is surveilled by a secret service to find a weakness for political control, his private life becoming 'File No. 51'.
Dossier 51
1978
6.0A Jewish girl in 19th century London dreams of becoming a stage actress.
Esther Kahn
2000
Behind the camera
6.3During the years following World War II, a new boy arrives to class 7/c, and the audience learns to know the lives of the drunkard teacher, his husband-cheating wife, the lonely music teacher hiding behind her paper flowers, the wise count deprived of all his properties, the jovial parish priest and especially the buffalo owner of tragic fate who lost his four daughters, alongside with the young protagonist.
Volley for a Black Buffalo
1985
6.3During the years following World War II, a new boy arrives to class 7/c, and the audience learns to know the lives of the drunkard teacher, his husband-cheating wife, the lonely music teacher hiding behind her paper flowers, the wise count deprived of all his properties, the jovial parish priest and especially the buffalo owner of tragic fate who lost his four daughters, alongside with the young protagonist.
Volley for a Black Buffalo
1985
5.5Two women work as entertainers and prostitutes to raise enough money for their dream home.
Zig Zig
1975
5.5Two women work as entertainers and prostitutes to raise enough money for their dream home.
Zig Zig
1975
5.2A murder at the Whisky Bar leads a Buddhist policeman on the trail of a strange deal that links the owner to a crooked politician. A zany, satirical detective story that denounces a certain milieu where politicians and crooks coexist. The politician, a drug dealer and employer of hired assassins, becomes the target of a blind hitman.
The White Gloves of the Devil
1973
5.2A murder at the Whisky Bar leads a Buddhist policeman on the trail of a strange deal that links the owner to a crooked politician. A zany, satirical detective story that denounces a certain milieu where politicians and crooks coexist. The politician, a drug dealer and employer of hired assassins, becomes the target of a blind hitman.
The White Gloves of the Devil
1973
NRA man is shot down in a provincial airport. Despite his wounds he manages to drag himself to his plane bound for Italy, unaware that the killers are already waiting for him at his destination. During the flight he reminisces about the events that led him there. His name is Matou and he was a Formula 1 champion before being banned from racing circuits for causing a fatal accident. Matou ran away in the company of Lena, his employer's girlfriend. But while they were in the open country they got shot at by mysterious pursuers, which was the beginning of a wild manhunt.
Point mort
1984
10.0Detective Sebők is shot at by a fleeing criminal and then pushed off the road. Sebők breaks his leg. Left by his wife, pensioned by his boss on the basis of false reports, he has a clash with banker Gömöri at the colonel’s party.
The Man Who Slept at Daylight
2003
10.0Detective Sebők is shot at by a fleeing criminal and then pushed off the road. Sebők breaks his leg. Left by his wife, pensioned by his boss on the basis of false reports, he has a clash with banker Gömöri at the colonel’s party.
The Man Who Slept at Daylight
2003