Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1983


The Third Key

Buy The Third Key now from Amazon

First, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.

Wikipedia article




{{Infobox film

| name = The Third Key

| native_name =

| image =

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption =

| director = Zoran Tadi

| producer =

| writer =

| screenplay = Pavao Pavlii

| narrator =

| starring =

| music = Aleksandar Bubanovi

| cinematography = Goran Trbuljak

| editing = Vinja tefi

| production_companies =

| distributor =

| released =

| runtime = 88 minutes

| country = Yugoslavia

| language =

| budget =

| gross =

}}

'The Third Key' ('Trei klju') is a 1983 Croatian film directed by Zoran Tadi, starring Boidar Ali and Vedrana Meimorec. A Kafkian horror film, indirectly touching on the topic of corruption, in showing the alienation and soullessness of modern agglomerations it resembles somewhat the film 'Someone's Watching Me!' by John Carpenter.

Plot



Dunja and Zvonko are a young married couple who are moving into a newly built apartment in Novi Zagreb. Their relationship is burdened by a number of personal issues, such as Dunja being older than Zvonko and having other lovers before him, and Zvonko being prone to alcohol abuse. As Dunja is unemployed and Zvonko has old gambling debts, they are chronically struggling for money and their trust in each other seems to have been eroded. Although it transpires that the apartment was not acquired in an entirely legal way, the two are hopeful about a new start.

After moving in, Dunja and Zvonko soon begin noticing suspicious strangers in the vicinity, and mysterious envelopes with substantial amounts of cash start to appear in their mailbox. Since the envelopes are addressed to them, they decide to spend the money, although they are unable to identify the sender. Soon after that, they discover signs of an apparent intrusion, as if someone has the third key the one they were supposed to receive with the apartment but never did and is using it to enter their home while they're away.

The couple are unsettled over the events and are struggling to explain them, eventually asking friends and then the police for help, but to no avail. Dunja is convinced from the outset that there must be a connection between the intrusions and the money, while Zvonko is dismissive towards that idea, lulled by the unexpected financial gain.

Over time, the couple's relationship becomes increasingly strained by uncertainty and fear, leading to mutual accusations and verbal fights. They leave the apartment for a motel, only to receive the same envelope at the reception. Finally, they swap the apartment with a friend, but the envelopes keep arriving at their new address...

Cast



* Boidar Ali as Zvonko Krlak

* Vedrana Meimorec as Dunja Krlak

* Franjo Majeti as uncle

* Ivo Gregurevi as Marko

* as Jura

* as street performer

Background and production



Boidar Ali got the role of Zvonko after Tadi noticed him in "7296", an episode of drama TV series ' directed by Tadi in 1981.

The role of Dunja was initially meant for Boidarka Frajt, but went in the end to then little-known Vedrana Meimorec because Frajt either waited too long with her acceptance or according to another source cancelled at the last moment.

The production of 'The Third Key' was twice as expensive as that of Tadi's debut, 'Rhythm of a Crime', but was still very modest. Standard 16 mm color film was used, later transferred to 35 mm. Two thirds of the footage were shot in the same indoor location, with very simple sets. Most scenes feature only the two main protagonists, and episodic roles were played by director's friends. Apart from the opening and closing credits, there is no music in the film.

Ali's behavior during the shooting made Tadi vow never to work with him again. Apparently, as soon as Ali sensed his partner did well, he deliberately fumbled his lines so as to ruin the shot. This ultimately cost him the lead role in 'Love Letters with Intent' (1985), as Zvonimir Berkovi upon hearing from the crew of 'The Third Key' that Ali was impossible to work with passed him over in favor of Zlatko Vitez.

Themes and analysis



Croatian film critic Tomislav egir argued that the motif of internal disarray, apparent in 'The Third Key', is also present in other Tadi's films, such as 'Dreaming the Rose' (1986) and 'Osueni' (1987). The protagonists "become insignificant individuals due to societal, economic, as well as political determinants, which entails their position of alienation, marginalization, or even apostasy". In egir's view, these themes also hinted at the actual reality of disarray which was corroding the Yugoslav society in the 1980s, eventually leading to the breakup of the country. Jurica Pavii too saw Tadi's 1980s films as a "moral chronicle of an era", where the heroes are "people who have used their connections to get a [state-owned] apartment, who have given or taken a bribe, gotten ahead at other people's expense, in short socialist citizenry which 'does what others do too', until a metaphysical punishment catches up with them".

The powerlessness of the individual is deepened by their failure to connect to people around them. In 'The Third Key', the absence of trust destabilizes the marriage and makes it vulnerable to outside influences. In other Tadi's films, the protagonists also tend to be divided by mistrust, opportunism, or inability to establish deeper personal relationships. Yet Tadi is partial to his characters, who tend to experience their seemingly inescapable predicament with stoic pessimism.

'The Third Key' and Tadi's other films also share the themes of the inevitability of fate, as well as the question of justice. The two protagonists attempt to find a new way of living in order to extract themselves from their background, but the metaphorical inevitability of fate prevents them from doing so, and by the time they realize they are unable to change it, it is already too late.

Reception and legacy



While 'The Third Key' is generally considered to fall short of the high standard set by 'Rhythm of a Crime', it is nevertheless deemed interesting for its genre approach and topic which were novel in Croatian and Yugoslav cinema of the era.

Croatian film critic Jurica Pavii named 'The Third Key' his personal favorite among five films shot by Tadi in the 1980s after his debut.

In 2007, Croatian film critic Nenad Polimac listed 'The Third Key' in his selection of "lost classics" of Croatian cinema.

References



Bibliography



*


Buy The Third Key now from Amazon

<-- Return to movies from 1983



This work is released under CC-BY-SA. Some or all of this content attributed to http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1096368363.