On Body and Soul (2017)
Two strangers share the same dream each night, compelling and eerie—ideal for fans of surreal romances and psychological mysteries.
Genres: Drama, Romance, Fantasy
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On Body and Soul(2017)
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Overview
Two quiet coworkers at a slaughterhouse discover, by pure chance, that they share the same vivid dream each night. As the strange connection pulls them closer, they try to translate what feels effortless in the dream into real-life closeness, despite fear, awkwardness, and the harshness of their everyday surroundings.
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Review Summary
Pros: unusual tender romance; dreamlike forest imagery; thoughtful character study | Cons: slow pace; unsettling slaughterhouse scenes; emotionally distant tone
Will You Like This?
You’ll likely enjoy this if you want a gentle, offbeat romance that mixes everyday realism with a shared-dream mystery and quiet humor; Not for you if you dislike slow stories or bloody workplace scenes, like in November.
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Teströl és lélekröl (On Body and Soul) is a Hungarian love story between a handicapped older man and a woman with Asperger''s, set in a slaughterhouse. The film is a very intense slow burn with moments of pure blaze, where nothing happens and everything happens.
I was looking forward to _On Body and Soul_, but left a pretty great disappointment after itself. Started off great, but later on it turned out to as a strange _Amelie_ interpretation, just the main characters don''t fit for these roles. I think their relationship was not presented as an awkwardly adorable love, rather than just awkward. They got attractive to each other only because they accidentally found out their common dreams. Moreover the dreams weren''t extended in the movie, we didn''t know anything special about them. Although, those should have been the most intriguing parts, but seemed to me unused. And the end...oh boy. That last 15 or 20 minutes or so really demolished the movie to the ground. Felt like completely implausible from the bathtub scene until the very end.
The original title of the film is Teströl és lélekröl.
The film''s tag line (two people have the same dream every night) does not do this film justice. The film is rather hypnotic in the way that it touches on loneliness, mental health and the beauty of the human spirit. It is told in a rather understated manner and relies heavily on the facial expressions of the two main characters. follow me at https://IHATEBadMovies.com or faccebook IHateBadMovies
One of the best Hungarian movie ever, one of the best movie of all time!
Alexandra Borbely, i''m crying no more words
A bloody movie with an interesting topic.
This is a quirky romance that unfolds very slowly. Not for the faint hearted (it''s primary location is a slaughter house - lots of blood), but blood is a theme, as is the power of dreams (physical, sleeping dreams), love over lust and the journey to love. Although the romance is alluring, the protagonists are sympathetic and the dreamscapes are peaceful and appealing, the whole piece was a little too bleak for me. I give it a 6 (fair) out of 10. This film was nominated for Best Foreign Film in the 90h Oscars. [Romance Drama]
[Not Suitable for Vegetarians] I was eager to see this after its award nominations last year. It doesn''t disappoint. I wish I''d watched it earlier as it would have appeared in all my self indulgent ''best films of 2017'' type lists. It plays out like a spiritual, cerebral take on how we interact and overcome personality traits to appear normal, do normal things, and act the way society tells us to do. In that regard, I found it quite similar to Julia Ducournau''s Raw (2016). But in ''On Body and Soul'', Ildikó Enyedi has created a hugely ambitious mystery masterpiece love story in the same mould as a Yorgos Lanthimos film. Morcsányi Géza''s performance as Endre is absolutely perfect and there are some spellbinding shots of animals in forests.
Made me think about how other people understand love. We take as given the generalised understanding of love, but everyone lives a different experience of it. Also based in our history since childhood until every decision made today.
Featured User Reviews
There's a tiny bit of aw, it's "Bambi" at the start of this film as a great stag and a much smaller doe are seen meandering through the wintery forest looking for some nice juicy leaves. Next thing, we are in an Hungarian abattoir where finance director "Endre" (Géza Morcsányi) has just been informed that they have a new independent product inspector, "Mária" (Alexandra Borbély) who appears a little stand-offish with her colleagues - and keeps downgrading the meat. He decides to try and befriend her, and that's when the story becomes a little more interesting. Meantime, there's a robbery at the factory and the police ask the company to engage in some psychological profiling. Remember the deer? Well it appears that both he and she have been simultaneously having that same dream. That's no mean coincidence and as the couple start to bond they find that it's not just their illusions that they have in common, but with both coming with considerable amounts of personal baggage it's not going to be a straightforward relationship. What makes this film a bit different is the unconventional nature of the characters. He's in his mid-forties, a bit emotionally reserved and has a withered arm. She (don't you think she resembles Saoirse Ronan a little?) is almost childlike at times and is seen reliving some of the tensions of her life using kid's toys. Now this isn't exactly a pacy affair, but auteur Ildikó Enyedi takes this two hours to develop two characterful personalities that defy the usual cinema norms of beauty and attraction and yet are still engaging to watch and appreciate. There's a little light relief from the cynical HR boss (Zoltán Schneider) the psychologist (Réka Tenki) serves a series of functions - some less professional the others - as the couple fight to overcome their respective ineptitudes. The workplace scenes are not exactly graphic, but it's still not really a film for the squeamish. Glamorous it isn't, but it does have a degree of realism to it and it's worth a watch.
