Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
Two introverted people find out by pure chance that they share the same dream every night. They are puzzled, incredulous, a bit frightened. As they hesitantly accept this strange coincidence, they try to recreate in broad daylight what happens in their dream.
Ildikó Enyedi's Hungarian gem is a genuinely singular work — the juxtaposition of a sterile, blood-soaked slaughterhouse with ethereal deer-dream sequences is one of cinema's more audacious structural conceits. The cinematography earns its high mark through strikingly controlled visual contrasts: the cold fluorescent harshness of the abattoir against the soft, wintry forest dreamscapes. The premise is wholly original and executed with a quiet, deadpan surrealism that feels utterly unmistakable — high Novelty for a film with a truly one-of-a-kind conception and tone. The plot is equally strong, using the shared-dream device not as fantasy spectacle but as a delicate metaphor for emotional isolation and the terror of intimacy, grounded by the physical disability subplot and the workplace investigation. Acting is committed but uneven — Alexandra Borbély is exceptional, while some supporting performances are merely serviceable. The ending, while poignant and earned on an emotional level, resolves in a way that slightly deflates the accumulated strangeness, opting for romantic catharsis over the more challenging ambiguity the film had been building toward.