Nobody's Daughter (Hungarian: Árvácska) is a Hungarian film released 4 March 1976. Based on a book by Zsigmond Móricz, the film tells the story of Csöre, an orphan girl living among the peasantry of Hungary in the 1930s. It stars Zsuzsa Czinkóczi, then age seven, as main character Csöre, also known as Árvácska. Árvácska means literally "little orphan" and it's also the Hungarian name of the violet flower.
The film depicts the suffering of an orphaned girl with the greatest possible naturalism. It is shocking, depressing, and—like the novel itself—heartbreaking. The cruelty and torture that Csora endured are felt by the viewer with almost equal pain. There have been few works in European cinema that are so frank and, moreover, so firmly grounded in reality since Moritz’s novel about a girl named “Chibe,” whom he prevented from committing suicide on the Szabadság Bridge.[1]
The film continues to shock and even depress audiences. Many question the age rating for children under 12, as it contains excessive violence and Csora is shown naked for almost the entire film.[2] According to some sources, the film was seen by a million people in the year of its release.[3]
The film was released in the United States under the title Nobody's Daughter.
Contents
Plot
Somewhere in a Hungarian village lives a little girl: Csöre (Zsuzsa Csinkóczi). Her official name is Allami Arvaska, and she's an orphan. The family that adopted her did so only so she could work for them. To prevent her from running away, they take away all her clothes, and she tends the cow entrusted to her by Boris (the family's father), completely naked. Then the cow wanders into the vineyard of Istvan Kadarcs, "Uncle Rudy." He catches the girl and rapes her. The Dudás family learns of this that same evening. The next day, Csöre appears, but for his diligence, he only receives a reprimand from "My Dear Mother" (Anna Nagy). Later, Csöre steals a melon, from whose rind she makes a hat. She trades it for a shirt belonging to her from one of her stepsisters. That evening, at dinner, the theft of the melon is discussed: "My Dear Father" (Šandor Horváth) presses a red-hot coal into Csöre's hand as punishment. Pleased that she has clothes, Csöre goes to school with Boris the next day, and then "out into the world."