Trailer
Plot summary
The Sonnenschein family lives in Austria-Hungary, where a tavern owner distills a popular herb tonic called Taste of Sunshine. His son Emmanuel turns the recipe into a commercial brand, and the family builds a large estate. Emmanuel's oldest son, Ignatz, studies law and begins an affair with his first cousin, Valerie, despite his parents' disapproval. The chief judge offers Ignatz a place on the central court if he takes a Hungarian surname, so Ignatz, his physician brother Gustave, and Valerie change their name to Sors. Ignatz and Valerie marry and raise two sons, Istvan and Adam. Ignatz remains loyal to the Habsburg monarchy, and Gustave works toward a communist revolution.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Sunshine (1999)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Sunshine's Sonnenschein mansion was filmed at a Budapest apartment building at 15 Bokréta Street, where the crew painted a fake liquor-firm sign on the façade; in 2008 the city and district spent 300 million forints renovating it and officially named it The Sonnenschein House, keeping the fictional company name.
- The Sonnenschein family's liquor business was based on the Zwack family's Unicum brand, Ralph Fiennes's fencing role drew at least partly on Hungarian Olympian Attila Petschauer, and William Hurt's Andor Knorr resembles the later life of László Rajk.
- Director István Szabó handed his friend, producer Robert Lantos, a 400-page screenplay in Hungarian, and Lantos persuaded him to condense it and translate it into English.
- When a specific location was available only for a limited time, Ralph Fiennes would play all three of his characters on the same shooting day.
- The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television revised its rules so films with only minority Canadian involvement could compete, which let Sunshine collect 14 nominations at the 20th Genie Awards.
