Explanation for Everything

Lightly stinging Hungarian social satire in which a slacking high school student becomes a hero of the extreme right. 18-year-old Abel’s failed his history exam turns into a culture war, spurred on by bad faith tabloids.  

It’s summer in Budapest. High school student Abel is struggling to focus on his final exams, whilst coming to the realisation that he is hopelessly in love with his best friend Janka. The studious Janka has her own unrequited love for married history teacher Jakab – who had a previous confrontation with Abel’s conservative father. The tensions of a polarised society come unexpectedly to the surface when Abel’s history graduation exam turns into a national scandal.

The third feature of Hungarian director Gabor Reisz, after For Some Inexplicable Reason and Bad Poems, was inspired by developments on Reisz’ alma mater, the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest. There the autocratic regime of Viktor Orbán forced a reorganization, depriving the university of its autonomy.