{ "id": "epncdyxpr3", "slug": "my-twentieth-century", "title": "My Twentieth Century", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1980s", "label": "Comedies of the 1980s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1980s" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1980s.comedy-dramas-of-the-1980s", "label": "Comedy-dramas of the 1980s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1980s.comedy-dramas-of-the-1980s" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Eastern Europe · 1946 to 2000: Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "path": [ { "id": "geo.eeu", "label": "Eastern Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946", "label": "Eastern Europe · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" } ] } ], "excerpt": "My Twentieth Century (Az én XX. századom) is Ildikó Enyedi's 1989 Hungarian black-and-white debut feature, winner of the Cannes Caméra d'Or, about separated twins Dóra and Lili reunited on the Orient Express around 1900.", "snippet": "My Twentieth Century (Az én XX. századom) is Ildikó Enyedi's 1989 Hungarian black-and-white debut feature, winner of the Cannes Caméra d'Or, about separated twins Dóra and Lili reunited on the Orient Express around 1900.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1980s.comedy-dramas-of-the-1980s", "markdown": "# My Twentieth Century\n\n**My Twentieth Century** (Hungarian: *Az én XX. századom*) is a 1989 Hungarian black-and-white feature film, the debut feature of director and screenwriter Ildikó Enyedi, which won the Caméra d'Or for best first film at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/az-en-xx-szazadom/) It tells a playful, philosophical story of twin sisters separated in childhood whose paths cross again on the [Orient Express](https://www.edgepedia.org/orient-express) at the turn of the twentieth century, framed by the inventions of [Thomas Edison](https://www.edgepedia.org/thomas-edison) and the birth of cinema.[2](https://kinolorber.com/film/my-20th-century)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Original title | *Az én XX. századom*[3](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/my-twentieth-century/1227103) |\n| Director and writer | Ildikó Enyedi (born 1955), her first feature[3](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/my-twentieth-century/1227103) • [4](https://poff.ee/en/film/my-20th-century/) |\n| Award | Caméra d'Or, best first feature, 1989 Cannes Film Festival; also shown in Un Certain Regard[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/az-en-xx-szazadom/) |\n| Lead cast | Dorota Segda in the dual role of the twins Dóra and Lili; Oleg Yankovsky as Mr. Z; Paulus Manker; Péter Andorai; Gábor Máté[2](https://kinolorber.com/film/my-20th-century) • [5](https://nfi.hu/files/document/document/836/FILMARCHIVUM_Cannes_katalogus_WEB.pdf) |\n| Form | Black-and-white, 1.37:1 aspect ratio; cinematography Tibor Máthé, music László Vidovszky, editing Mária Rigó[5](https://nfi.hu/files/document/document/836/FILMARCHIVUM_Cannes_katalogus_WEB.pdf) • [1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/az-en-xx-szazadom/) |\n| Setting | Budapest in 1880, the year Edison presented the incandescent lamp, to New Year's Eve 1899/1900 on the Orient Express[3](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/my-twentieth-century/1227103) |\n| Recognition | One of the 12 Best Hungarian Films of All Time; among the 10 Best Films of the Year by The New York Times[6](https://cdn-media.festival-cannes.com/film_film/0002/69/468ec3bad19eb9bba6161fddb66224f1e9a7f726.pdf) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story\n\nThe twins Dóra and Lili are born in Budapest in 1880, the year Edison presented the incandescent lamp to the world.[3](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/my-twentieth-century/1227103) Orphaned young, they are kidnapped and separated while trying to sell matches in the snow, each taken away by one of two mysterious top-hatted gentlemen.[7](https://www.istanbulmodern.org/en/film/my-20th-century) • [8](https://silver.afi.com/movies/detail/0100002714/) They grow up on opposing tracks: Dóra becomes an easy-going swindler and pseudo-aristocrat traveling first class, while Lili becomes a feminist anarchist and bomber traveling with animals in a separate wagon.[5](https://nfi.hu/files/document/document/836/FILMARCHIVUM_Cannes_katalogus_WEB.pdf) • [7](https://www.istanbulmodern.org/en/film/my-20th-century)\n\nOn [New Year's Eve](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-years-eve) of 1899, as the twentieth century arrives, both sisters find themselves aboard the Orient Express in central Europe, still unaware of each other.[3](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/my-twentieth-century/1227103) • [9](https://nfi.hu/en/films/my-20th-century.html) The mysterious Mr. Z, an aristocrat described as a slave to science and the technical innovations of the new century, meets the two women separately and falls in love with both; together, fused into one, they represent for him the \"perfect WOMAN\".[5](https://nfi.hu/files/document/document/836/FILMARCHIVUM_Cannes_katalogus_WEB.pdf) • [2](https://kinolorber.com/film/my-20th-century) Their paths repeatedly converge and diverge, and the film follows them through a world rapidly electrifying, in which silent cinema is booming.[3](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/my-twentieth-century/1227103)\n\nEnyedi described the film's premise in her Cannes synopsis: the story begins in 1880 and finishes around 1900, showing what the twentieth century might have been like had it not been hampered by lack of imagination, in an age of great inventors who succeeded on confidence and imagination alone.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/az-en-xx-szazadom/) The National Film Institute's account frames the story as taking place between Edison's two inventions, the light bulb and the telegraph, with the Exposition Universelle of 1900 as the bright moment to which the film looks back.[10](https://filmarchiv.hu/en/news/my-20th-century-a-wonderful-first-film-among-the-berlinale-classics) A study in *Hungarian Studies Review* notes that the film's underlying idea is expressed at the end through the message Thomas Edison sends around the world in his first telegraph experiment: the world is magnificent, and mankind, having learned to shape it, is also magnificent.[11](https://real-j.mtak.hu/5046/1/1999.pdf)\n\n## Themes and style\n\nThe film mixes elements of science fiction and fabulation into its historical narrative, with characters moving across time and space, the stars given voice to assert their superiority over man-made illuminations, and asides such as a voice-over from a monkey in a zoo describing its capture.[12](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/my_20th_century) Science is depicted as part of a male world that women must contend with, and the film's magical tone is presented as an alternative to the rational, sterile environment represented by most of the men.[12](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/my_20th_century) Istanbul Modern describes the film as questioning the position of women in a world shaped by inventors like Edison and Tesla, who founded twentieth-century modernity.[7](https://www.istanbulmodern.org/en/film/my-20th-century)\n\nA memorable episode has Lili, the anarchist fighting social injustice, attending an event organized by feminists at which the male speaker first assures the audience of his support for women's suffrage and then, arguing ever more heatedly, proves that women do not exist; the NFI reads this deadpan digression as Enyedi's comment on scientific theories that tried to decipher female roles.[13](https://nfi.hu/alapfilmek-1/alapfilmek-filmek/jatekfilm/az-en-xx-szazadom.html)\n\nThe film is besotted with early and silent-era cinema: it opens with a luminous black-and-white moon descending center-frame and dissolving into a circular vignette of looped footage of a man with his head in a cannon, trying to light its fuse, a symbolic burlesque that Enyedi uses as a prologue.[14](https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2023/cteq/it-was-ildiko-enyedis-20th-century-and-we-just-lived-in-it-my-twentieth-century-1989/) • [10](https://filmarchiv.hu/en/news/my-20th-century-a-wonderful-first-film-among-the-berlinale-classics) Despite being a sound film, it works as a love letter to silent cinema.[15](https://ica.art/media/07046.pdf) The cinematography by Tibor Máthé drew particular praise; the American critic Vincent Canby, longtime reviewer for The New York Times, wrote in November 1990 that it \"must be one of the most handsome black-and-white films since Federico Fellini's 8 1/2\", calling it \"a bracing combination of wit, invention, common sense and lunacy\".[5](https://nfi.hu/files/document/document/836/FILMARCHIVUM_Cannes_katalogus_WEB.pdf)\n\n## Production\n\nEnyedi shot the film from her own screenplay in German co-production, with Polish and Russian actors, at locations in Hungary and abroad.[13](https://nfi.hu/alapfilmek-1/alapfilmek-filmek/jatekfilm/az-en-xx-szazadom.html) Production companies included Budapest Film Studio, Friedländer Filmproduktion GmbH, Hamburger Film Büro, ICAIC of Cuba, and MAFILM, making it a Hungarian, West German, and Cuban co-production.[5](https://nfi.hu/files/document/document/836/FILMARCHIVUM_Cannes_katalogus_WEB.pdf) • [7](https://www.istanbulmodern.org/en/film/my-20th-century) Sources give differing runtimes: the Cannes archive catalog lists 99 minutes, the Hungarian National Film Institute 98 minutes, Eye Filmmuseum and the Seville festival 105 minutes, Istanbul Modern 104 minutes, and a Hungarian film database 102 minutes.[5](https://nfi.hu/files/document/document/836/FILMARCHIVUM_Cannes_katalogus_WEB.pdf) • [13](https://nfi.hu/alapfilmek-1/alapfilmek-filmek/jatekfilm/az-en-xx-szazadom.html) • [3](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/my-twentieth-century/1227103) • [16](https://festivalcinesevilla.eu/peliculas/my-twentieth-century) • [7](https://www.istanbulmodern.org/en/film/my-20th-century)\n\nA curious footnote to the film's success: [David Bowie](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-bowie) was so enthusiastic about it that he offered to star in Enyedi's next film; fearing the superstar would overwhelm the story, Enyedi declined, and Bowie instead became a producer on *Bűvös vadász* (The Whirlwind).[13](https://nfi.hu/alapfilmek-1/alapfilmek-filmek/jatekfilm/az-en-xx-szazadom.html)\n\n## Reception and legacy\n\nThe film premiered at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival, where it was screened in Un Certain Regard and won the Caméra d'Or.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/az-en-xx-szazadom/) It was celebrated for its fresh voice, original form, and a viewpoint that went beyond international film trends, which became Enyedi's signature style.[10](https://filmarchiv.hu/en/news/my-20th-century-a-wonderful-first-film-among-the-berlinale-classics) The New York Times selected it among the 10 Best Films of the Year, and in 2000 the Hungarian film profession voted it into the \"Új Budapesti Tizenkettő\" (New Budapest Twelve), the twelve best Hungarian films of all time.[6](https://cdn-media.festival-cannes.com/film_film/0002/69/468ec3bad19eb9bba6161fddb66224f1e9a7f726.pdf) • [13](https://nfi.hu/alapfilmek-1/alapfilmek-filmek/jatekfilm/az-en-xx-szazadom.html) On Metacritic it holds a Metascore of 81, labeled Universal Acclaim, with reviews from Canby (100), Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian (80), and critics at The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times.[17](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/my-twentieth-century/critic-reviews/)\n\nDespite the Cannes award, the film received only limited release and slipped into obscurity, before later revivals acclaimed it as a significant work of [feminist science fiction](https://www.edgepedia.org/feminist-science-fiction); it is one of a handful of genre films discussed by Mark Cousins in his documentary *Women Make Film* (2018).[12](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/my_20th_century) It was selected for Berlinale Classics in 2018, and a 4K restoration was graded under the supervision of the original cinematographer, Tibor Máthé.[4](https://poff.ee/en/film/my-20th-century/) • [5](https://nfi.hu/files/document/document/836/FILMARCHIVUM_Cannes_katalogus_WEB.pdf) The Caméra d'Or and Enyedi's 2017 [Golden Bear](https://www.edgepedia.org/golden-bear) for *[On Body and Soul](https://www.edgepedia.org/on-body-and-soul)* bookend her international career.[8](https://silver.afi.com/movies/detail/0100002714/)\n\nOne point of disagreement among sources deserves note. Most festival and archive sources describe *My Twentieth Century* as Enyedi's first feature, and the Caméra d'Or is awarded to a first film.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/az-en-xx-szazadom/) • [6](https://cdn-media.festival-cannes.com/film_film/0002/69/468ec3bad19eb9bba6161fddb66224f1e9a7f726.pdf) The journal *Senses of Cinema*, however, states that after premiering in Toronto the film won the Caméra d'Or \"even though it was her second, rather than her first, feature film\".[14](https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2023/cteq/it-was-ildiko-enyedis-20th-century-and-we-just-lived-in-it-my-twentieth-century-1989/)\n\n## References\n\n1. [AZ EN XX SZAZADOM, Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/az-en-xx-szazadom/)\n2. [My 20th Century, Kino Lorber Theatrical](https://kinolorber.com/film/my-20th-century)\n3. [My Twentieth Century, Eye Filmmuseum](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/my-twentieth-century/1227103)\n4. [My 20th Century, PÖFF – Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival](https://poff.ee/en/film/my-20th-century/)\n5. [My 20th Century, National Film Institute – Film Archive, Cannes catalog](https://nfi.hu/files/document/document/836/FILMARCHIVUM_Cannes_katalogus_WEB.pdf)\n6. [Ildikó Enyedi biography, Festival de Cannes](https://cdn-media.festival-cannes.com/film_film/0002/69/468ec3bad19eb9bba6161fddb66224f1e9a7f726.pdf)\n7. [MY 20TH CENTURY, Istanbul Modern](https://www.istanbulmodern.org/en/film/my-20th-century)\n8. [My Twentieth Century, AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center](https://silver.afi.com/movies/detail/0100002714/)\n9. [My 20th Century, National Film Institute](https://nfi.hu/en/films/my-20th-century.html)\n10. [My 20th Century – A Wonderful First Film Among the Berlinale Classics, National Film Institute – Film Archive](https://filmarchiv.hu/en/news/my-20th-century-a-wonderful-first-film-among-the-berlinale-classics)\n11. [Hungarian Studies Review, Vol. XXVI, No. 1 (Spring 1999)](https://real-j.mtak.hu/5046/1/1999.pdf)\n12. [My 20th Century, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/my_20th_century)\n13. [Az én XX. századom, Nemzeti Filmintézet](https://nfi.hu/alapfilmek-1/alapfilmek-filmek/jatekfilm/az-en-xx-szazadom.html)\n14. [Cerise Howard, It Was Ildikó Enyedi's 20th Century, and We Just Lived In It, Senses of Cinema, July 2023](https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2023/cteq/it-was-ildiko-enyedis-20th-century-and-we-just-lived-in-it-my-twentieth-century-1989/)\n15. [On 'My Twentieth Century' by Ildikó Enyedi, ICA](https://ica.art/media/07046.pdf)\n16. [MY TWENTIETH CENTURY, Festival de Cine de Sevilla](https://festivalcinesevilla.eu/peliculas/my-twentieth-century)\n17. [My Twentieth Century critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/my-twentieth-century/critic-reviews/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of the 1980s › Comedy-dramas of the 1980s*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/my-twentieth-century", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/my-twentieth-century.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"My Twentieth Century\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/my-twentieth-century. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[My Twentieth Century](https://www.edgepedia.org/my-twentieth-century)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/my-twentieth-century](https://www.edgepedia.org/my-twentieth-century). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"My Twentieth Century\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/my-twentieth-century. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "My Twentieth Century is Ildikó Enyedi's 1989 Hungarian black-and-white debut feature, winner of the Cannes Caméra d'Or, about separated twins Dóra and Lili reunited on the Orient Express around 1900." }