Nine Months

A defiant woman asserts her autonomy in the face of a disapproving society in Mészáros’s complex look at the ways in which women’s bodies and minds are held in check by the strictures of patriarchy. Frequent Mészáros collaborator Lili Monori delivers a fearless performance as Juli, a young woman who begins a new job at a brick factory, where she is immediately pursued by possessive foreman János (Jan Nowicki). Their relationship grows complicated when he discovers that she is raising a son from a previous lover. Mészáros’s background as a documentarian is evident in her feeling for the industrial landscapes of northern Hungary and in the astonishing final scene in which the boundaries between actress and character are radically dissolved. A Janus Films release. New 4K digital restoration undertaken by The Hungarian National Film Fund and approved by director Márta Mészáros.