Éj és virradat

In the dimly lit streets of interwar Budapest, Éj és virradat unfurls as a lyrical meditation on the collision of ambition and remorse. The narrative follows the tormented aristocrat Miklós (Gusztáv Pártos), whose nocturnal wanderings are haunted by a secret pact made in his youth—a pact that resurfaces when the enigmatic dancer Lili (Olga Dallos) reappears, her presence a catalyst that forces him to confront a web of betrayal woven with his late father's political machinations. Parallel to Miklós’s descent, the earnest journalist Árpád (Oszkár Dénes) investigates a series of clandestine meetings at the opulent Várhely manor, uncovering a conspiracy that binds the city’s elite to a shadowy syndicate. The film interlaces flashbacks of wartime loss, portrayed with stark chiaroscuro, and present-day intrigue, each scene punctuated by the mournful strains of a lone violin. As dawn threatens to break, the characters converge in a climactic tableau at the Danube’s fog-laden quay, where truths are laid bare, loyalties are tested, and the night’s lingering darkness finally yields to a tentative, if ambiguous, light. The screenplay, a collaboration between Ede Sas and Edward George Bulwer‑Lytton, balances theatrical melodrama with subtle social commentary, rendering Éj és virradat a haunting study of personal redemption amidst a nation’s turbulent transformation.