Béla Tarr, renowned director of Sátántangó, dies aged 70

Béla Tarr, the Hungarian filmmaker renowned for lengthy, challenging and beautifully shot films including Sátántangó and Werckmeister Harmonies, has died aged 70.

- Andrew Pulver

The Hungarian Film Artists Association said Tarr died yesterday "after a long and serious illness".

He became renowned globally in the 90s and 00s as his films were shown more widely - partly because of their length (including the seven-and-a-half-hour Sátántangó), and partly because of what appeared to be his definitive expression of middle-European black and white miserablism.

But in an interview with the Guardian's Peter Bradshaw in 2024, well after Tarr had retired from active film directing in 2011, he said his films had been misunderstood: "My opinion is that we were doing comedies. You can laugh a lot."

He added that they were not pessimistic. "I only ask this - how did you feel when you came out of the movie theatre after watching my film? Did you feel stronger or weaker? I want you to be stronger."

Tarr influenced filmmakers as diverse as Gus Van Sant (whose 2002 film Gerry was a direct homage) and fellow Hungarian László Nemes, who acted as assistant director on Tarr's 2008 Georges Simenon adaptation The Man from London, which starred Tilda Swinton. Many of his films were made in collaboration with his partner Ágnes Hranitzky.