Forbidden Relations

After the suicide of her husband, Juli (Lili Monori) meets Gyorgy (Miklos Szekely B.), a stranger with whom she feels an immediate kinship--sharing the same world-weary resignation and history of failed relationships. It's only after they've become sexually involved, however, that Juli learns they also share the same DNA (same mother). Zsolt Kezdi-Kovacs's 1982 film explores this union between a half-brother and half-sister, who fall in love and want to help each other through the loneliness of life, but--after Juli becomes pregnant--find the world turning on them. While presenting all of the possible ethical, legal, and medical arguments against the couple, Kovacs finally condones their romance, suggesting that there are worse things in their rural Hungarian town, including poverty, crime, and many broken families. Photographed by Janos Kende, Forbidden Relations is a gritty and naturalistic film with lead performances to match, but while the central relationship never feels exploitative, the couple also never seem as interesting as their situation. Optional. (D. Fienberg)