Memento Distribution has picked up French distribution rights to Gabor Reisz’s ‘Explanation for Everything’ following its world premiere in Horizons competition at the Venice Film Festival. The deal was closed by Films Boutique.
Anthony Bobeau, head of acquisitions at Memento Distribution, said: “Gabor Reisz’s work reminded us of Asghar Faradi’s first films. They both have the same accuracy of vision and intelligence of writing when it comes to telling the story of their country and their times.”
The film is set in Budapest, where high school student Abel is struggling to focus on his final exams, whilst coming to the realization that he is hopelessly in love with his best friend Janka. The studious Janka has her own unrequited love with married history teacher Jakab – who had a previous confrontation with Abel’s conservative father. The tensions of a polarized society come unexpectedly to the surface when Abel’s history graduation exam turns into a national scandal.
In Guy Lodge’s review for PvNew, he said: “Escalatingly absurd but underpinned by a mordant plausibility throughout, this confidently imposing work is among the high points of this year’s Horizons sidebar at Venice.”
He notes that Reisz scored a domestic hit and made a strong impression on the international festival circuit with his 2014 debut, “For Some Inexplicable Reason.”
He adds: “His 2018 follow-up ‘Bad Poems’ maintained that off-kilter charm, but ‘Explanation for Everything’ is a more polished, ambitious step up from its predecessors — even if, at over 150 minutes, it feels a little baggy. That’s not to overlook the artful staggering and overlapping perspectives of its construction, essential to the he-said/he-said tension that drives its story, but a little tightening could help the international distribution prospects of a film with much to say across borders.”
The screenwriters were Reisz and Éva Schulze. The producer was Júlia Berkes. The production companies were Proton Cinema and Mphilms Production.
