Sunshine

Sunshine follows a Hungarian Jewish family across the twentieth century, from the late Habsburg era through the upheavals of revolution, war and communism. The family's fortunes begin with a herbal liqueur recipe that brings them wealth and a place in Budapest's bourgeoisie, yet their Jewish identity keeps them outsiders in Hungarian society. Across three generations they face antisemitism, persecution and the pressure to hide their origins or change their name and faith, while struggling to hold on to who they are.

István Szabó directed the film, his fifth feature listed here and the one that followed Offenbach's Secret and preceded Taking Sides. He wrote the screenplay with Israel Horovitz. Ralph Fiennes plays three roles, one from each generation: a lawyer at the turn of the century, an Olympic fencer in the 1930s, and a political activist during the communist period. The cast also includes Rosemary Harris, Rachel Weisz, Jennifer Ehle, Deborah Kara Unger and William Hurt.

The film was a German, Austrian, Hungarian and Canadian co-production, shot at 181 minutes. Made for about 26 million USD, it took roughly 8 million USD worldwide, a fraction of its cost. On IMDb it holds 7.4/10 from around 16,000 votes, noticeably higher than its 6.4/10 on TMDB from a much smaller sample, while a critics' rating of 7.3/10 from 65 reviews sits closer to the IMDb figure.