Great movie, but I was wondering if any one might have an educated guess as to who is the father of Ilona's baby. Was it Laszlo or Andras??? If you think you know please back it up with some facts from the movie.
shareWell, and what about Wieck??? I know it is not a pleasant idea, but... you know, life is life...
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I asked myself the same question, except that I thought it was a toss-up
between Hans and Laszlo because Andras had been dead too long.
(When the pregnant Ilona visits Andras' grave, there is already grass
growing around the tombstone.)
Maybe it was wishful thinking, but I thought it was Laszlo because he took
over management of the restaurant, and his attitude toward the arrival of the arrogant Hans seemed to reflect what his own father (Laszlo) would have felt.
Andras's offspring would have been playing the piano, and Hans's would never
be working there at all, or is that too easy?
For me the father is clearly Laszlo.The last scene give clue to it as his son celebrated the revenge of his father's deportation by Hans during the Nazi's occupation by celebrating with a bottle of Mumm champagne with his mother in kitchen.Obviously they poisoned either his food or drink with the small bottle of poison left over by their beloved Laszlo.The mother was seen cleaning the bottle in the sink just before that.
shareI loved the film. I believe Andras is the father of Ilona's baby. The film
shows her pregnant as she is leaving his grave, I find that a connection that
is important. The fact grass is growing on his grave doesn't mean anything,
grass grows quickly. The son's hair is too dark for the blonde Wieck to have been the father. Also, the son would not have been content to help his mother
poison Wieck if he was his father. The son could be Laszlo's, but I vote for
Andras. I also believe that as Ilona is leaving Andras' grave, she says
something like "apres le deluge, nous". That seems a reference to her belief
the baby is Andras'.
I saw the film last nite, here in New Orleans, at a Jewish Film Festival. Surely the answer is not absolute.. intentionally ambiguous...Hans could be the father without mama ever telling the boy... merely that both "possible" fathers were murdered by Hans... maybe not even that much... Mama could have done the deed without the son knowing... we see the brown bottle but perhaps he does not.. I think it is a mystery NOT to be solved. Many commenters seem not to regognize apres le deluge, nous as a turnaround of a famous French royal statement= "Apre nous, le deluge" , at the time of the French Revolution.
shareWe watched the DVD at home last night. My husband and I also talked about who might be the father. We think Hans should be, since Ilona and both the other guys have very dark hair, while the son has brown hair, a cross of Ilona and Hans. But we will never know, since it's intentionally mysterious.
Also we think Ilona's the one who poisoned Hans, and she never tells her son about Hans.
We love the movie and the music.
I agree that the son probably never knew about Hans' involvement with his mother. The sole reason the son opens a bottle of champagne at the end is to toast his mother's 80th birthday. As you all may recall, she and Hans shared a birthday. I liked how Ilona finally dealt with Hans' betrayal of her (and the men she loved) after so many years had passed---it was a nice "knife twist in the ribs" sort of ending.
shareJust viewed this last nite. Hans could be the father but Ilona said to Szabo that she wanted to spend the rest of her life sharing baths with him which could indicate she was pregnant but on the other hand
She never became pregnant before. She must have taken precautions. But Hans forced himself on her and she might not have been prepared.
It's funny--just before Ilone showed up pregnant at Andras' grave I was thinking to myself, how could she be engaging in so much hanky-panky and not get caught? There was no pill in that time period, and the way she was so often just caught up in a passionate moment with each of her two lovers didn't leave much time for either male or female birth control devices. Forget the rhythm method. So, just maybe Hans was the only one with a high enough sperm count.
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In purely visual terms, the father would seem to be Andras, since Ilona's pregnancy is revealed at his gravesite. Yet the actor playing the adult child was certainly cast because of his resemblance to Laszlo. If the child was complicit in the murder of Hans, then his father was probably Laszlo, since Hans was directly responsible for Laszlo's death, while Andras fell victim to his own song after it was vocalized by Ilona. This was probably meant to be ambiguous...
shareIf she had a relationship with both Andras and Laslo, it would seem that if she were to be pregnant by either of them she wouldn't know which of them were the father. But there seems to have been some time after Andras passed and she and Laslo were living together so I think its between Laslo and Hans.
shareAndras must have been the father because the son is too skinny to be Laslo's. But clearly the intention was that he was both men's son.
I would have probably left Andras out as he committed suicide earlier. It could be either Laszlo or Hans, but I'm guessing that it's more likely to be Hans. Maybe that's why she wanted to kill him? Illona's son might not have known the whole truth, since Illona could have hidden that fact from him.
shareit's Laszlo, and a scene gives this away. (at least to me it does) it's when they are both in the bath tub and Ilona says she wants to take her baths here forever (or something to that extent). I think she knew she was pregnant then.
shareJust finished watching the DVD(from Amazon)of this excellent picture after remembering it almost ten years ago,but not being able to obtain a reproduction until recently.Let me venture my take.I honestly believe that the film makers wished the audience to decide whom the father was,but I'd give the nod to Laszlo
considering the resemblance of the actor playing the son to Laszlo and the comment of Ilona at the last bath she shared with Laszlo to the effect that she
continue this for the rest of her life.It is interesting also that the film makers casted the 80 year old Hans with the actual father of the actor playing the young Hans.