Fejos' Spring Shower is an atypically honest look at the miserable treatment of maidservants at a time when nationalism and political and social instability in Central and Eastern Europe generally discouraged in-depth and frank discussions of society's ills.  It tells the story of Mari, a young peasant girl of austere beauty, who works for a prosperous family and who is seduced by a man engaged to one of the family's daughters.  The servant becomes pregnant and is cast out of her employer's home without further ado.  Needless to say, with the birth of the illegitimate child, the upholders of morality and the judges of societal behavior ---who've forgotten Christ's admonition not to judge lest they themselves be judged --- ignore the block of wood in their own eye and push to the limit their merciless need to remove the splinter from Mari's ... with tragically unforgivable consequences as a result.  There is very little talking in the film, but the interpretation of the film's message by the viewer, based on his or her own outlook on life, is not difficult to divine.  The original print at 150 minutes no doubt stressed the lack of commentary in the film.  This shorter print removes much of the "extraneous" scenes, but is no less powerful in its presentation of the hypocrisy, mistreatment, and conformist demands made of and shown to those who "don't fit in".

DVD-R is in French with switchable English subtitles.  Approx. 65 mins.  See film sample for film quality! 

REGION FREE  (will play in any DVD player)