The film was based on a novel by an author from Pécs, Gizella Dénes. It follows the path of the world-famous master ceramicist until he finds his real vocation. The young shop assistant, working in his father’s shop, is suddenly given the local brickworks by his brother who is leaving the country. At the same time, mysterious figures enter his life: an Italian ceramicist who turns up in Pécs and has a jealously guarded secret - and on the trail of the old Italian an arcanist and chemist in search of the secret. Due to their influence, the young Vilmos Zsolnay starts to toy with the idea of making porcelain, and everything else in his life springs from this thought: he meets his great love and is then given the recipe for the new ceramics by the old Italian. The road to achieving his goal is not easy. Friendships, love affairs, betrayals and tragedies mark the years before his dream can come true. Then the film leaps forward twenty years, when it is shown how hard it is to pass on the work of a lifetime to someone else, even if that person is the great master’s son. Vilmos Zsolnay almost dies in the struggle but then his son returns home to take part in improving the famous ceramics factory in Pécs...
Zsolt Pozsgai