After a fresh transfer to DVD, Bela Tarr's acclaimed film has never looked better. His tale of a provincial town thrown into turmoil by the visit of a macabre circus, exhibiting the corpse of a whale, has justifiably gained status as one of the great European films of the last century. At once darkly violent and sublimely beautiful, the piece uses an abstract narrative to evoke the philosophical problems involved in human society. Remade as Maid In Manhattan in 2003.