Memories Of Mommy and Daddy

As the 1956 Hungarian uprising erupts, revolutionary actors Imre and Katalin are summoned to the mansion of exiled Hollywood idol Julian Vargas, expecting an ally. Instead, they find only Felix, his disturbed adult son, who coerces them into reenacting his abusive childhood through increasingly sinister theatrical games. As Budapest falls and the actors lose themselves in their roles, a Soviet general arrives to claim the famous couple for propaganda – exposing buried secrets about the missing parents. To survive, Imre and Katalin must fully become Mommy and Daddy, or die as themselves.

Producers' note

Memories of Mummy and Daddy is an unbridled dark satire about the maze of fanatical worldviews and self-destructive family prejudices that stifle generations. Niche in genre and tone, it offers a fresh, entertaining production for domestic audiences while reaching the established absurdist-satire crowd across Europe, the US and Asia – fans of Lanthimos and Park Chan-wook.
As a European, I recognise something profoundly familiar in this story. The experience of communism, with all its absurdity and contradictions, is not merely a chapter of history for us; it remains part of our lived cultural memory. Although it exists in the story primarily as a backdrop, it gradually assumes the presence of a character in its own right.
At its core, this is a very painful and tragic story, yet we choose to tell it through satire, humour and a certain absurdity.