A surreal animated musical comedy from Hungary about a man terrified of getting married and his fiancée's best friend

BUBBLE BATH (HABFÜRDÖ) - 1979, 79 min. Hungarian director György Kovásznai's wildly idiosyncratic animated musical is one of the most indescribably strange, personal and totally irresistible cartoon features ever made. Shop window decorator Zsolt (voiced by Kornél Gelley, with Albert Antalffy singing) bursts into the apartment of his fiancée's best friend Anikó (voiced by Vera Venzcel, with Kati Bontovits singing), paralyzed with fear at his impending marriage. Zsolt is like an anxious hippie alley cat, or an Eastern European Frank Zappa in a tux; medical student Anikó a more curvaceous and leggy post-modern Betty Boop - and both unsure of their attraction to each other, of the choices they've made, of what life has in store for them. A truly insane and surprisingly sexy mash-up of styles, from 1920s Art Deco to 1960s Psychedelia to late 1970s louche Roxy Music decadence, BUBBLE BATH is incredibly restless and creative, the bohemian love-child of Bill Plympton's off-kilter individualism and Ralph Bakshi's wonderfully warped, rubbery visual style. In other words: it's not quite like any animated film you've ever seen before. Sadly, this was director and animator Kovásznai's only feature film after making a number of brilliant cartoon shorts at Pannónia filmstúdio -- he died of leukemia in 1983 shortly after its release. BUBBLE BATH has been beautifully restored by the National Film Institute in Hungary for its first-ever U.S. release by Deaf Crocodile. In Hungarian with English subtitles.

Media

Bonus Materials

• New commentary track by film historian Samm Deighan
• New essay by film historian and professor Jennifer Lynde Barker
• Interview with BUBBLE BATH Composer János Másik – 2021, 7 min.
• “Restoring BUBBLE BATH” – 2021, 9 min., dir. Yvonne Kerékgyártó. A fascinating look at the restoration of this Hungarian animated classic
• 5 rare Short Films by György Kovásznai
• Blu-ray authoring by David Mackenzie of Fidelity In Motion.

 

Cast & Crew

Actors:

•       Kornél Gelley
•       Vera Venzcel
•       Albert Antalffy
•       Kati Bontovits
•       Katalin Dobos
•       Lenke Lorán
•       Anna Papp
•       Arany Szögi

Director: György Kovásznai

Additional Details

Label: Deaf Crocodile

Genre: Animation (not Anime/Manga)

Language: Hungarian

Run Time: 80 mins

Region: 1

Release Date: 10/14/25

UPC: 850066568415