Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó directs Amy Adams in the Berlinale competition film “At the Sea,” which might be his most accessible film yet.
“I’m just grateful I get to tell my stories in English and make American movies. I certainly didn’t want to make a ‘European’ film in the U.S. and just sink into the Atlantic Ocean,” he smiles, but there’s more to his statement.
“I’ve been blacklisted in Hungary for years,” he admits.
“Ever since ‘Evolution’, I’ve received very little support. The last film that got real financing was ‘Jupiter’s Moon’ back in 2017. Since then, I’ve applied a couple of times but I was refused, so I’m not applying anymore.”
Mundruczó has been critical of the right-wing government. In 2020, he showed support for protests against the government’s decision to appoint new leaders at the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest.
“I’m lucky I’m able to work, but I’m Hungarian and I’d definitely like to make Hungarian movies again. I desperately miss it,” he says.
While Hungary’s Proton Cinema is co-producing “At the Sea,” which is produced by Ryder Picture Company, AR Content and Hammerstone Studios, the story is set in Cape Cod, Mass., where Laura (Adams) returns after a stint in a rehab.
With her family still reeling from Laura’s drunk-driving accident, and the pressure to maintain her late father’s dance company mounting, she yearns for reconciliation.
“For me, it’s a ‘life after death’ kind of movie,” Mundruczó says. “It came from my personal experience as well. When you’re in real trouble, you can lose your connection with those closest to you. Still, there’s a way out, and I wanted to offer it to Laura. It’s not utopian — it’s optimistic.”
Adams was the first actor to read Kata Wéber’s script.
“We didn’t give it to anyone else. She said: ‘It feels so close to me.’ Her unbelievable talent lies in her understanding of how fragile a woman like Laura is after rehab. She was game to focus on a very short period of time — only this one weekend — and expand it into a much bigger inner journey.”
He adds: “Her performance is very moving — and brave in terms of how simple, raw, and natural she’s in the movie.”
Laura tries to protect her father’s legacy, but it’s also weighing her down.
“It’s a fine balance, because you can’t violently cut yourself off from your past. She finds a way to respect it, but also opens a new chapter. She’s ready to say: ‘Maybe it’s not just about me anymore.’ I learned that too. Your ego is less important than those close to you.”
In Laura’s case, this mostly has to do with her two children, as teenage daughter Josie (Chloe East) harbors resentment and ends up communicating with her through dance.
“They’re at a point when words don’t matter anymore. They have to go bigger. I work in theater and I’ve created some dance sequences in my career, but I’ve never been a dancer. Amy is a dancer,” says Mundruczó.
“She started out as one and transitioned into acting, and she really liked that connection. Laura’s father was a dancer, and she tried it, but didn’t continue. She was oppressed by his big shadow. Now, Josie dances this crazy explosion in front of her. It’s an insult, but it awakens her soul again.”
Mundruczó believes that “cinema can go beyond words.”
“Theater is words — cinema is visual and much more sensitive. Cinema is hair and skin, trees, light, and movement. Something else is happening between the lines; it’s never a straightforward emotion.”
The cast, from Murray Bartlett playing Laura’s husband (“He’s a star. His episode in ‘The Last of Us’ [‘Long, Long Time’] was one of the most beautiful moments in TV”) to Jenny Slate, Dan Levy and Brett Goldstein, immediately understood it. They also embraced the film’s bittersweet humor.
“In my career, I haven’t been afraid of going into dark places, but this story is very Chekhovian. It’s very loosely inspired by ‘The Cherry Orchard’ and in his work, humor or lightness is as important as darkness,” he says.
To Mundruczó, “At the Sea” is about “lost connections and midlife crisis” rather than addiction, but he still wanted to show all the co-dependency surrounding it.
“When we were researching addiction, or drawing from my own experience with it, it became clear: that’s the trap and the test. Laura tries to reconnect with her family, but they want ‘the old, fun Laura.’ The drunk Laura, not the troubled woman they have in the house. I showed the film to quite a few formal addicts in my circle, and everyone said: ‘The first days are just like that’.”
Following “Pieces of a Woman,” which scored Vanessa Kirby an actress Oscar nom as a woman who loses her child at birth, “At the Sea” marks another strong female protagonist for Mundruczó.
“I believe in women’s strength and I feel the roles [out there] don’t necessarily reflect their complexity,” he notes.
“Martha in ‘Pieces of a Woman’ and Laura in ‘At the Sea,’ they are real heroes. My heroes.”
Amy Adams in ‘At the Sea’
ATS Production LLC