TABLEAU

Set in the Budapest underworld, Hungarian director Gábor Dettre’s dark thriller is based on a novel by co-scriptwriter Ákos Kertész. When the antique dealer Schulter is murdered, the police quickly discover that the dead man was involved in human trafficking and prostitution. The case is placed in the hands of György Karcsi, a disillusioned chief detective in his fifties, who finds his investigations hampered by the ubiquitous prejudice against gypsies. Coming from a Rom family himself, he encounters hostility not only from witnesses in the case but also from his own colleagues. A suspect is soon identified: Béla, a fellow Rom who was having an affair with Schulter’s wife. Although the victim’s safe has been found in Béla’s home, György remain unconvinced that he is the murderer. The detective continues to question Schulter’s acquaintances, few of whom express sorrow over the antique dealer’s untimely demise. One of his interviewees is Ágnes, a young Rom girl from Transsylvania, who was brought to Hungary with eleven other girls and forced into prostitution. Wanting to protect the under-age girl from wrongful accusations, György takes her into his home, much to the displeasure of Eva, his wife. Finding his way through the maze of the murdered man’s life is suddenly only one of the detective’s problems – he is also struggling to resist his desire for Ágnes. With this thriller in the best noir tradition, Gábor Dettre draws a vivid portrait of a society dominated by contempt, bigotry and cynicism. The figure of the spent, ageing detective, played by Zoltán Mucsi, combines classical elements of the genre with issues relating to the racism he encounters from all quarters.