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The Academy Award-winning director said that the film, based on a novel of the same name by Hungarian writer Magda Szabó, is expected to be screened in Germany from March too.
Producer Jenő Hábermann said talks were still underway on how many digital and film prints would be used to start distribution in Hungary.
?Magda Szabó wrote some wonderful books. I feel that The Door stands out among these wonderful books as a masterpiece. I hope that the actors who think the same way about this book can bring to life and add spirit to Magda Szabó?s characters,? Szabó said earlier about the German-Hungarian co-production.
He added that Hábermann had invited him to make a film adaptation of the book. He said he had had many conversations with Szabó about adapting one of her books for the screen but the writer passed away before a novel was picked.
It took three years to organise financing for the project and the total budget was 6 million euros. Scenes were shot in Germany and Hungary, including near the former home of the writer in Budapest?s District II.
The film stars the Academy Award-winning British actress Helen Mirren and the German actress Martina Gedeck, best known from The Lives of Others and The Baader Meinhof Complex. The cinematographer was Elemér Ragályi.
Szabó said The Door was partly an autobiographical novel about a husband and wife, the latter who happens to be called Magda.
?Both Emerenc and Magda have a strong desire to convince the other to live a way of life they consider right. This battle sometimes involves great explosions of love and at other times results in grudges that could be compared to hatred. The film follows this continual emotional fluctuation,? said Szabó. He added that the personal conflicts described in the book published in 1987 also reflect the unique political atmosphere that characterised the time.
The director said that the door in the novel was not only a metaphor for trust.
?This story also shows hat it is sometimes impossible to enter certain doors, especially when someone?s life experiences have taught them not to let anyone in,? he said.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
