Esther's Inheritance

Running time: 90 mins

?I don?t know what else God has in store for me, but before I die I want to write down what happened the day that Lajos visited me for the last time, and robbed me.?

So begins this richly textured tale by Hungary?s beloved author Sándor Márai (himself subject of last year?s Cinequest offering The Exile: Everything is Different), a film overflowing with beauty, emotion, mystery and intelligence.

Since the charismatic but untrustworthy Lajos jilted Esther and married her sister twenty years ago, Esther has lived in seclusion with her cousin Nunu on a hillside overlooking beautiful Lake Balaton. Now Lajos is returning for a visit, and unexpected, unwanted feelings reawaken, old mysteries beg to be resolved. Taking place over the course of a single September afternoon, filmed in the fulsome yellow-brown hues of autumn, Márai?s wondrous novel comes to the screen in a gorgeous production full of wit, elegance and a profound understanding of the human heart.

--Charlie Cockey