MERRY-GO-ROUND
AUTUMN, 1953
Who's got a ball?
I'll place it on this stick... Careful !
ESZTRAD-CIRCUS
...Esztrad...
Father! What does it mean, Esztrad?
Probably...
...somebody's found...
...a new abbreviation
I did it !
Look, how I'm doing it !
For you, Mari!
Thank you, Sándor.
It's too expensive!
Don't exaggerate!
Wait!
For doing a good job..
Maté! Not like that!
Give it back!
Excuse me!
Doctor David!
What are you doing now? Aren't you a doctor any more ?
I'm a research doctor.
And what do you research?
Have lunch with us!
This is a fine one...
...For 3.200 forints...
...and this one, with copper fittings...
...for 4.800 forints...
Haven't you got anything cheaper?
There's this one at 2,400!
Well, goodbye.
What a surprise!
Let me see... You are a lady now!
Sándor Farkas.
Do you need that...
...to make yourself heard at home?
It's for my grandson. To make him happy.
Do you want a harness?
Yes, but the prices are too high.
You have become a chairman of the co-operative?
Well, no...
I'm going to leave it.
Go away!
Well, four fried-fish...
...six paprika-fish...
- For you, fried-fish... - No, that's for me!
Paprika-fish for me !
You mix things up!
Quiet!
How many fish-soups?
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7...
And paprika-fish?
1, 2, 3, 4...
Fried-fish?
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
All right ?
We'll see?
You do research about the bile?
Tell me about it!
How can I explain? It has a lot of functions...
We don't know all of them...
What, for example?
Do you know why he's so interested in bile?
- He has troubles with it. - With his bile?
With his...
...mother-in-law's.
What can I bring you?
Two beers.
One for me, too.
Two fish-soups...
...and wine-and-soda.
Will it make the pigs fatter?
Probably.
Then why do you experiment on dogs ?
Who's interested in dogs ?
The co-operative is full of busybodies...
...who know it all better.
I prefer to be my own master
I'm fed up with it
Everybody knows...
I worked as if it was my own land.
Yet I hardly earned more...
...than those who didn't work at all.
There is a lot of favouritism, too.
They wanted him to be chairman...
...but he refused.
He won't worry over the other's troubles...
...and he won't be troubled by others.
A shame I have to come here...
...with 30 forints in my pocket.
I've been my own master since boyhood.
I'll get my twelve acres back...
...and start again on my own.
That's right.
Careful, Máté!
We'll get on without them...
...as before.
Of course!
What about you?
- When will you? - Will what?
Leave them. Or have you left already?
No...
We won't.
We're quite well there.
As an advance...
...we got 25 quintals of wheat, corn, rice and sugar.
We reckon upon 30.000 forints.
How are you, Uncle Pataki ! Hello, Mari !
János !
Come, Sándor!
So you'll stay with them?
Of course.
How do you do, Mrs. Pataki.
Let Mari come with us!
Just for a little while.
Your father doesn't like it...
Just for a while...
But don't stay long!
Make a knot !
Do you dare to come with me?
I do!
Not so fast!
Don't be afraid! It's so lovely to fly!
We're flying!
For you.
Thank you. If you happen to pass by?
Goodbye!
You're not to go again...
...with that fellow and his gang.
I'm fed up with the co-operative. You should be, too.
Understand?!
Your father isn't back yet?
You weren't with him?
He must be with the committee.
Well, it's done.
We left the co-operative.
Now, it's all up to us.
I want to live with you.
You know it.
Leave the milk!
You see ? we're going the same way.
But where are we going?
I'm very strong...
...I can defend you from anything.
With me...
...you'll never be hurt.
I want you!
Leave me alone! I'll tell my father!
I just came to tell him.
- My darling... - Leave me alone!
I'm glad to hear it.
God bless both of you.
I've known you from your childhood.
You're a respectable man, no gossip about you.
For whoever...
Whoever wants to be respected...
...shouldn't give cause for reproach.
All right.
Now, we must limit ourselves to necessities.
But the eyes of the villagers are on us.
On me...
...and now on you, too.
Wait till February for the wedding.
Then we'll see whether we can have a real wedding.
My little daughter...
Don't cry.
I was 18 years old, too...
...when your father proposed.
Good Lord!
Nearly 20 years ago!
That's a woman's fate!
And so it will be forever.
I cried, too.
Why was I born to be a woman...
But I ought to thank Heaven
for getting such a good husband.
For he's strong...
and with him we had no fear...
to get our daily bread.
Sándor is the same.
The same?
Yes. Don't believe the jokers.
They'll make bad farmers.
So do it.
Earning a living is the important thing.
Twice a week...
Mari will sell milk and sour cream
at the market. They always pay well...
First you must buy a horse.
And fodder.
Good evening!
I was just passing by...
Have a seat!
The men are in.
Did you come to them?
I only came...
Who's that?
Good evening, Uncle Pataki.
There's a guest.
I was just passing by...
I wont say you are bothering us...
but we are celebrating an engagement.
In the family circle. Here's the bridegroom...
and here's the bride.
Everybody must go through that.
I see.
You're in the co-operative, We are no longer there.
We've got nothing more to say to each other.
Then, good luck!
Good night!
Where?
I'm taking my father's lunch.
Get on!
What's he doing at the co-operative?
You know it.
Asking for his land back.
The best pieces of land.
You've got taller.
Do you sell a lot in the market?
- As it comes. - What about today ?
Nothing.
Then how will you collect money for your trousseau?
Is that why you're giving me a lift?
Will you come to Ilus's wedding?
When will yours be?
That's my father's business.
Listen! This is no good.
I love you...
only you...
I can't live without you.
Well, I've said it now.
You are not answering ?
No.
You know we mustn't speak about this.
Mustn't we?
Well?
Damn it!
That's the limit!
I brought in my alfalfa...
and you won't return it.
And for my horse, you offer only 2.500 forints!
I brought in my 15 acres...
and got it back with debt made by others.
- And by you, too. - I worked honestly !
The lunch.
Put it down. I'll bring the pot home.
Listen!
We don't want you to suffer...
but you don't want 350 people to loose, do you?
The law says:
Whoever wants to leave the co-operatives can do so.
But you want to take revenge on me.
Give me that 20 acres field!
Which?
That field ploughed by Máté Biró's brigade.
It's not just for me...
For Sándor Farkas and the others, too.
It's our field, ploughed for 20 years.
We don't need those wretched
co-operative fields you offered!
Don't mess with the co-operative!
Show me three members who work as hard as I did.
I for one!
Show me two more!
I won't tear up...
the co-operative land into four parts!
And I should have my land in four parts?!
I brought it in in two parts...
I want it back in two!
You should only shout at home.
- What did you say? - This is our co-operative...
and you're only a guest here.
I'll be a guest when I get back my land!
The co-operative is no joke.
We sowed those 20 acres with autumn-barley
with a new method.
I won't give those 20 acres to anybody!
I've come to talk with the committee...
and not with a bunch of kids.
That's enough!
You're not a committee member...
- so you can leave. - Mind your own business!
You better shut up!
If you and the other leaders
weren't so partial and sluggish,
men like Pataki would join now and not leave!
All right. But go now!
Are you still here?
I'll come with you.
If you've nothing to do...
Nothing more important.
This mud! Do you like this sort of life, Stuck in the mud!
- Why do you speak like this? - You've chosen this sort of life.
Haggling on the market to amass a fortune.
Will you make a fortune?
- I'll make life. - A muddy life!
But peasants dont have
to trample in mud forever.
Whoever would dare to oblige me...
I'd beat him to death !
I'll make a proper living for myself and for us all.
My little Mari...
I love you so much!
That's why I'm shouting at you!
Why has it to be like this?
Tell me, what can I do?
If you want me to...
I'd fetch the moon to make a frying-pan for you.
I can't live without you.
You see, Máté...
we have chosen another way. I mean...my father...
Don't worry about him!
Say you love me...
and everything's alright.
Won't you say it?
I won't.
Why? Tell me why!
Leave me alone.
Nothing else can help us but our fate.
Nonsense!
What I want to happen?
will happen to us.
Could we live without each other?
I couldn't!
No! Let me go!
Don't come with me!
My father will see us.
I don't care! I'll go and see him and tell...
Don't!
Leave me alone
or he'll hurt me.
Go on ! It's midnight soon.
- The bride is for sale! - I'll buy her!
Let's dance with her, before she becomes a wife.
Where's the bride's mother?
Go on!
''When a girl grows into a woman,
She piles her hair into a high bun
A bun admired by more than one
Who are also jealous of her good man.
A bun admired by more than one...''
Look at me!
Do you like it here?
All right !
Now it's my turn.
A generous man.
''He climbed up the willow-tree
Up to the tallest branches
But be it here or there
Nothing was ever good
No one was ever good but one : The wife of another man.
But be it here or there
Nothing was ever good...''
''We cannot come back From too long a journey
No more than conceal The love I feel...''
Have you gone mad?
You'll be gossiped about!
Your father would kill you! Come at once!
Now my favourite tune!
''The wilting flower Of the white acacia
Whispers...''
''We cannot come back From too long a journey
No more than conceal The love I feel
The love I feel...
Is stronger than...''
Look at me!
Why don't you smile?
That's it!
Don't make trouble!
Then I'll ask her myself.
We'll soon dance at our own wedding.
May I?
Come on !
Have a drink with us.
Not the best but still wine.
Tonight I'll only dance with you.
- Not even with the bride? - No! And you'll only dance with me.
And if somebody asks me ?
- May I ? - Wait for your turn !
- Don't do that with others! - With whom?
Your bridegroom?!
Please ! Don't make a scandal !
I won't give you to others!
Never!
- Your leg was broken? - It was.
But I didn't know it then.
And I went to the horse-fair.
With your broken leg?
I told them to put me in the cart.
- My god... - Faster !
Another song!
''The cottage is burning The reed is crackling
For a dance This brunette I am asking
As I hold her in my arms It is the fair one that I miss...''
Go and change your clothes!
I came to my senses in the hospital.
There they repaired it.
I was in for three weeks.
We couldn't pay the fees...
so our cows were auctioned.
Luckily we'd already sold our horse.
Happy old days...
Young people like you!
We're flying, Mari!
May I?
I asked for a dance!
That's enough!
- Don't spoil the others' happiness! - Music!
Let's go!
We'll meet another time.
We may.
- I don't want anything from you. - It's lucky you don't....
if you did you'd be in trouble!
You aren't a match for me!
What a shame!
Why did you let him?
Give me the water!
To do such a thing in your bridegroom's presence!
He isn't my bridegroom!
I don't want him!
You made it up...
without asking me!
You'd buy and sell me
if I'd let you!
Now you provoked your father.
Father!
Pretend not to hear me! Never mind!
You want another one?!
I won't marry Sándor Farkas!
You can beat me to death, you can drive me away I won't !
Strike me dead with your axe, but I won't !
But if you touch me once more, you'll never see me again!
- I' m going away. - Don't be a fool!
Where could you go?
All right.
You won't marry him.
After all he wants you and not me.
But why say it now?
We bought and made everything together with him!
Now God himself can't figure out
that I own him and he owns me!
To start life again...
isn't just:
''I'll marry him, I won't!''
I tell you...
don't upset my plans...
or I'll kill you!
Land marries into land!
We all know that's the law.
- Now go to sleep! - You too.
I told you: go to sleep!
Listen, Missy!
It's you I'm talking to!
Yes.
- Leave her alone! - Shut up!
Don't make faces!
What do you want? To set fire to the house?
Well, let's do it together!
Let it burn down...
and we can go and beg!
You went crazy in the co-operative!
You spent the whole time giggling.
That's normal for a while...
But you aren't a child anymore.
It can't be otherwise!
The law of the land is stronger than love.
Understand?
Do you hear me?
If it can't be otherwise let's set fire to the house.
Come here!
I told you already...
You are standing before your father!
Don't touch me!
Where are you going?
Away.
- Where? - Just away.
But why?
Nothing happened last night...
and this morning?!
Listen...
Let me ask you something:
Turn back and forget me because you'll never see me again.
I'm like a homeless dog.
I can't bear it.
So I go away. I won't trouble anyone.
This isn't a life, just suffering.
Even you can only hurt me...
Why don't you go?!
Máté, darling! What about us?
I took you for the sort of man...
one can rely on...
to stake one's life, money and honour.
Why did you trust me like this?
My daughter went crazy.
After all you're her father!
Am I allowed to go crazy...
when my land remains barren?!
Why did you convince me to leave the co-operative?!
Now I have to fight through another long year or even longer alone.
Who knows how long?
With my land cut to pieces I'm finished.
But I won't stand it!
I'll sue you if you don't put it right.
Are you arguing with me?
You want me to help you into my daughter's bed?
Good afternoon.
I'd talk to you...
...but in private.
- Are you going to milk this morning ? - Yes.
Then go and milk.
You can pass by without a word?
I'm marrying Mari.
It's your affair.
It is.
One's life is one's own affair
Nobody can interfere.
Our life - Mari's and mine...
won't be like this.
But you can't be angry with us for this forever.
What happened?
Nothing.
And the land...the horse?
THE END