Adoption (Hungarian: Örökbefogadás) is a 1975 Hungarian drama film directed by Márta Mészáros. It was entered into the 25th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Golden Bear. The film was also selected as the Hungarian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 48th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.
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Plot summary
The film tells the story of Kata, a 42-year-old female factory worker who lives alone near a residential care facility for abandoned children. She has a relationship with a married man, with whom she would like to have a child. He declines the offer, and the woman becomes interested in Anna, a girl from the children's home. She helps Anna marry her boyfriend, and decides to adopt a baby from the orphanage.
As Mészáros' Nine Months (1976), Adoption starts with a semi-documentary sequence shot inside a factory.
Cast
Katalin Berek as Csentesné – Kata (as Berek Kati)
Gyöngyvér Vigh as Bálint Anna
Péter Fried as Sanyi
László Szabó as Jóska
István Szőke
Flóra Kádár as Erzsi, Jóska's wife
Janos Boross as Anna apja
Erzsi Varga as Anna anyja
István Kaszás as Intézetigazgató
Anikó Kiss
Zsófi Mészáros
Judit Felvidéki
Irén Rácz
Erika Jozsi as (as Józsa Erika)
András Szigeti
Reception
Adoption was the first female directed film to win the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. According to Sight and Sound, the film is Mészáros's best-known film.
A restored version of Adoption was screened in the Berlinale Classics program at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival.