Taxidermia 2009

At a desolate military outpost in Hungary, Morosgoványi Vendel finds himself trapped in a life of misery, serving under the tyrannical Öreg Balatony Kálmán. Forced into performing menial tasks for the officer and his family, Morosgoványi’s living conditions are dismal, as he sleeps in an unheated shack next to the latrines. To escape this oppressive reality, he often immerses himself in vivid fantasies. In one particularly bizarre episode, he dreams of a sexual encounter with the lieutenant’s wife, only to wake up to an even more shocking scene: engaging in an act of sodomy with a slaughtered pig. This gruesome revelation leads to his execution at the hands of Balatony Kálmán, who then raises his son, Balatony Kálmán, as his own.

Years later, Balatony Kálmán emerges as a formidable Hungarian speed-eating champion. Under the strict tutelage of Jenő, his life focuses solely on preparing for a time when the International Olympic Committee might recognize speed-eating as an official sport. After suffering from lockjaw during a Soviet competition and eloping with fellow speed-eating star Aczél Gizi, Kálmán’s life is a whirlwind of rigorous training, especially as Gizi welcomes their son, Balatony Lajoska, into the world.

As time passes, Lajoska grows into a professional taxidermist. Unlike his parents, who are characterized by their significant weight, Lajoska possesses a frail, thin appearance that contrasts sharply with their imposing frames. While juggling his work at the taxidermy shop and struggling to live a normal life, he takes on the responsibility of grocery shopping for his father, who has become grotesquely obese and immobile, confined to a chair in their cramped apartment. Kálmán, who indulges in feeding butter to his caged cats, constantly berates Lajoska, pushing him to his breaking point. Feeling utterly defeated, Lajoska ultimately walks out on his father. Upon returning later, he is horrified to find the cats have broken free from their cages and have gruesomely eviscerated Kálmán out of sheer hunger.

In a macabre twist, Lajoska decides to stuff both his father and the felines. With little motivation left to live, he constructs a makeshift surgical harness and, using sedatives and painkillers alongside a heart-lung machine, embarks on the shocking act of removing his own internal organs. Finally, after preserving his body and sewing himself back up, he activates the machine that eventually beheads him, leaving behind a grotesque preserved figure. His remains are then displayed in a chilling exhibit alongside his father and the taxidermied cats, a testament to a life steeped in surreal tragedy and dark absurdity.