Another Way

“I’m heartbroken”, says a distraught Livia. “That’s what hearts are for”, responds the editor-in-chief of The Truth – the magazine where she works and where she will meet her future lover. The tragedy of Another Way stems from the feelings of lack of fulfilment, inscribed in the forbidden love affair between an officer’s wife (Grażyna Szapołowska) and the rebellious journalist Éva (Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieślak, Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival), The film, considered to be the first Eastern European portrayal of lesbian love, is also a critique of the Hungarian reality – dominated by fear, lies and conformity – in the years following the 1956 revolution. Awarded the FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes, Another Way matched the dreary atmosphere of the ongoing martial law in the People’s Republic of Poland. In poignant, dense compositions, Károly Makk explores the tensions that arise at the intersection of desire, jealousy, and politics, and creates a film that is still considered iconic in queer circles today.

Joanna Najbor

Károly Makk (1925-2017) was a Hungarian director and screenwriter. He was recognised as a creator of psychologically subtle films, focused especially on relations between women. In the first period of his artistic work, he received international acclaim for his chamber drama Love (1971). The next decade brought Another Way (1982), his famous subtle lesbian drama set in communist Hungary. Makk’s later works include The Gambler (1997), an adaptation of Dostoevsky’s novel.