Let’s get this out of the way: Those Who Remained isn’t Lolita. Aldo and Klára connect only because of shared trauma. It’s a pseudo-familial dynamic that proves to be good for both of them, as Klára finds guidance from an adult she doesn’t look down upon due to their possible complicity in the war, and Aldo gets to show some fatherly care that was only limited to his missing family. It thankfully remains above board. That being said, it gets a bit uncomfortable to see the film use the audience’s understandable suspicion to strengthen the feeling of Soviet surveillance. However, Those Who Remained clearly does this to demonstrate how, instead of receiving trauma-informed care and support, the community was instead viewed with suspicion.
"Perceptively directed by Barnabás Tóth, it taps into a deep well of honestly earned emotion as it tells the story of two traumatized survivors whose relationship helps them to heal and provides them with someone to live for."
— Alissa Simon
A man who lost his wife and daughter in the Holocaust and a girl who lost her parents meet. Knowing each other′s emptiness, they become like father and daughter. It is the beginning of a sad love that the world cannot accept.
After losing their immediate families to concentration camps, middle-aged doctor Körner Aldo meets 16-year-old Wiener Klára, forming a close dynamic that Soviet society views with suspicion.
Károly Hajduk and Abigél Szõke gave good performances.
Man, all this tension could have been avoided if they had formal support groups. At least we have that now.
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