VERY MORAL NIGHT, A

Like Karoly Makk's well-remembered “Love” (1971), a seemingly simple story reveals underlying depths of universal truth in his A VERY MORAL NIGHT. The setting is a turn-of-the-century bordello located in a small university town. A favorite among the regular customers is “Doctor,” a medical student who is loved and respected by the girls despite his lack of funds. He's invited to stay in the spare room free of charge. Since he lives on a meager allowance sent by his widowed mother, he's glad to accept. With no advance warning, his mother (Margit Makay) comes to visit and the madam (Iren Psota), presto-chango, creates a respectable boarding house out of the bordello. Makay and Psota, both stage and film veterans, have a field day in their roles in A VERY MORAL NIGHT, as the evening becomes just that. Working clothes are replaced by Sunday best, smoking is forbidden and dinner is served for ladies and gentlemen. Meanwhile, “Doctor” is out on the town. The girls hope he'll be back soon to take his mother to the station, but when he returns, the town bigwigs are with him, in the mood for the usual night of ribald fun. Mama doesn't leave until dawn. “A VERY MORAL NIGHT thrives on this double-standard role-playing: Laughs mingle with tears, propriety with a lust for life, the human with the moral. . .” – Variety