The Door (István Szabó, 2012)

Veteran director Szabó's umpteenth feature is an adaptation of a semi-autobiographical novel by his namesake Magda Szabó, where the author recounts the relationship she had with her housekeeper in communist Hungary. Martina Gedeck and Helen Mirren take up the roles, the former taken aback by the direct manner of her bluff supposed employee, who does pretty much what she chooses to. Nevertheless, an unconventional friendship forms between the pair over the course of the years. Gedeck isn't given that much to work with apart from try to break through the wall of the other woman's inscrutability, which is just as well because competing with Mirren on this form would be like trying to turn back the tide: it's amongst the best work she's done; a woman devoid of vanity, cutting and startlingly pragmatic. There is plenty of meat on the bone, so it's a pity that the decision was taken to dub all of the supporting cast into English too, which accentuates the awful clunkiness of some of the dialogue amidst the real gems that Mirren's character is given.

6/10