Susan Granger’s review of “SUNSHINE” (Paramount Classics)
Hungarian director Istvan Szabos’ epic, three-hour saga chronicles the rise and fall of three tumultuous generations of a troubled Hungarian Jewish family. Their name is Sonnenschein, which means sunshine in German; the title also refers to a delicious herbal tonic that the family brews. Ralph Fiennes plays three roles: the patriarch, Ignatz Sonnenschein, who marries his cousin and begins the process of assimilation by changing the family name to Sors; his son, Adam, who converts to Roman Catholicism, primarily to get into Budapest’s best fencing club, and becomes an Anti-Semitic snob, slashing his way to Olympics victory; and Adam’s son, cynical Ivan Sors, who joins the Communist secret police after W.W.II. The sweeping story by Israel Horovitz begins in 1840 and extends through the fall of Communism, encompassing more than 100 years – like Bertolucci’s “1900” and Visconti’s “Leopard.” Its theme is how all governments – Monarchy, Fascism or Communism – are corrupt, and how the choices we make – for better or worse – determine our future. In a unique casting twist, Jennifer Ehle plays Valerie, the woman whom Ignatz loves, and, as she ages, Ms. Ehle’s real-life mother, acclaimed actress Rosemary Harris, continues the same character about whom a grandson says, “She was the only one of us who had the gift of breathing freely.” Recently, mother and daughter were both Best Actress Tony-Award competitors; Ms. Ehle won for “The Real Thing.” On the Granger Movie Gauge of to 10, “Sunshine” is a thoughtful, ambitious, elegant 8 – but, because of its length, it’s better suited as a three-part TV miniseries on an adult-oriented channel that could accommodate the graphic brutality of one torture scene in a concentration camp, along with the sexual content and nudity.
