013 CIFF ’20 | On the Quiet

Davíd (Erik Major) is the teenaged first violinist at the György Ligety Music School, where he is in awe of his teacher, Frigyes (Gábor Máté), both for the latter’s musical talents and his way of coaxing the best from his young charges. David is deadly serious about his gift—he practices six hours per day—but he tries to make the new cellist, 14-year-old Nóri (Lulu Bognár), feel welcome into what is a very tight-knit group. Nóri eventually confesses a secret to David: she says their teacher, who is given to warm physical contact, touches her inappropriately. While searching for the truth, David’s life begins to spiral out of control…

‘Nagy shows great finesse as he tackles [this] highly topical subject… It’s a cruelly salutary and elegantly told tale, which also offers a highly accurate, sensorial portrait of the world of classical music lovers, intermingling tension and relaxation, and the majestic beauty of collective creation…’—Fabien Lemercier, Cineuropa