Sátántangó
Béla Tarr / HU, DE, CH, 1994 / 439 min.
This symphony in black and white is a triumph of visual storytelling. Béla Tarr’s seven-and-a half-hour magnum opus follows the inhabitants of a Hungarian village after the fall of Communism. Based on a screenplay by László Krasznahorkai, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2025. In Memoriam Béla Tarr.
Alcohol, more alcohol and the rumour that the dead have risen seize the minds of the villagers.
Along with Damnation (1988) and Werckmeister harmóniák (2000), Sátántangó makes up a trilogy that came about in collaboration with Hungarian novelist and screenwriter László Krasznahorkai, who on 9 October 2025 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. The films are a commentary on the precarity of human civilisation; unexpected, threatening developments bring out the beast in human beings.
At Béla Tarr's request, the intermissions are short in order to take the viewer out of the film as little as possible. After 137 minutes there is a 20-minute break. The second part is 125 minutes long, followed by a 30-minute intermission. The remaining part then lasts another 177 minutes.
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Special screenings
Details
Director
Béla Tarr
Production year
1994
Country
HU, DE, CH
Original title
Sátántangó
Length
439 min.
Language
Hungarian
Subtitles
ENG
Format
DCP
Part of
Eye Classics
Eye’s collection includes a wealth of classics. With the Eye Classics series, Eye brings film history even closer. Every week, we screen at least three classics from the collection under one recognisable name: Eye Classics.
In memoriam Béla Tarr
The Hungarian director Béla Tarr died on 6 January at the age of 70. This extraordinary filmmaker shaped his melancholic, pessimistic worldview in highly stylised black-and-white narratives, carried by long takes, earning him the title of master of the hypnotic long shot. In its cinemas, Eye is screening Damnation, The Turin Horse and Sátántangó. Five of his masterpieces can also be watched on Eye Film Player, including the trilogy Damnation (1988), Sátántangó (1994) and Werckmeister Harmóniák (2000). In 2017, Eye presented the exhibition Béla Tarr – Till the End of the World.
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