Bubble Bath: Standard Edition – Deaf Crocodile (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Hungary, 1980
Director: György Kovásznai
Writer: György Kovásznai
Cast: Albert Antalffy, Kati Bontovits, Katalin Dobos, Kornél Gelley, Lenke Lorán, Anna Papp,Arany Szögi, Vera Venczel

Release Date: October 14th, 2025
Approximate Running Time: 80 Minutes 6 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1 Aspect Ratio / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: LPCM Mono Hungarian
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $29.95

"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." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 5/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, " Bubble Bath was restored in 4K by NFI—National Film Institute—Film Archive of Hungary."

Bubble Bath comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 37.4 GB

Feature: 21.9 GB

Fidelity In Motion delivers a solid encode; the source looks excellent. Colors are nicely saturated, image clarity, black levels, and compression are solid, and the image retains an organic look.

Audio: 5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a LPCM mono mix in Hungarian with removable English subtitles. The audio sounds excellent; dialogue comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced and robust when it should.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a featurette titled Restoring Bubble Bath; featuring interviews with György Raduly, director of the National Film Institute, and the NFI film archivists (9 minutes 1 second, Dolby Digital stereo Hungarian with removable English subtitles), an interview with composer János Másik (6 minutes 45 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Hungarian with removable English subtitles), an audio commentary with film historian Samm Deighan, five short films directed by György Kovásznai; Monologue (12 minutes 21 seconds, 1.37:1 aspect ratio, LPCM mono Hungarian with removable English subtitles), Metamorphosis (6 minutes 43 seconds, 1.37:1 aspect ratio, LPCM mono, text in Hungarian with removable English subtitles), Wavelengths (9 minutes 48 seconds, 1.37:1 aspect ratio, LPCM mono Hungarian with removable English subtitles), Nights in the Boulevard (9 minutes 4 seconds, 1.37:1 aspect ratio, LPCM mono Hungarian with removable English subtitles) and A Memory of Summer 1974 (9 minutes 53 seconds, 1.37:1 aspect ratio, LPCM mono Hungarian with removable English subtitles), and a 16-page booklet with an essay titled Bubble Bath and the Animation of György Kovásznai written by Jennifer Lynde Barker.

Monologue: Lovely and surreal cut-out animation in a pre-Terry Gilliam/Monty Python style, a wild combination of Victorian imagery and Mod 1960s design.

Metamorphosis: Two faces—a woman and a man—blend and change and liquefy, reflecting the history of 20th-century art.

Wavelengths: Kovásznai’s abstract masterpiece with hints of Henri Matisse in its depiction of human forms floating in space, set to a surreal soundtrack of radio broadcasts.

Nights in the Boulevard: Kovásznai’s stunningly beautiful hand-painted short of a night in the city—poets and lovers in cafés, a constant hum of music and drinks and conversation—done in a gorgeous post-psychedelic style with hints of Yellow Submarine and his feature Bubble Bath to come.

A Memory of Summer 1974: Painted animation at its finest in Kovásznai’s stream-of-consciousness portrait of life in the summer, with color and form and brushstrokes constantly morphing and changing, all driven by a kinetic rock score.

Summary:

A neurotic shop window decorator hesitates on his wedding day, seeking refuge in the apartment of a colleague of his fiancée. Together, they attempt to discover what he truly wants.

Bubble Bath is a musical comedy that explores the anxieties we encounter in everyday life. Marriage is a significant event in anyone's life, and it's natural for a flurry of thoughts to fill one's mind in the moments leading up to it. While many films depict the scenario of cold feet the night before a wedding from the bride's perspective, Bubble Bath offers a refreshing take by highlighting the anxieties of the groom.

What begins as a story about a character in a moment of doubt evolves into a love triangle. The narrative does a superb job laying out the grooms' and the brides' desires and how greatly they differ. Bubble Bath is a film filled with metaphors, notably how its climax depicts the coming together of the groom and the bride into one soul. Although the impending marriage is front and center, Bubble Bath also serves as a time capsule social critique of life in Hungary in the late 1970s.

Bubble Bath’s animation is something that immediately grabs; it is a multitude of styles whose characters move in a strange, albeit hypnotic, way. Not to be overlooked is the music and the role that it plays. Composer János Másik creates an eclectic score that perfectly reinforces the characters' wide range of emotions. Ultimately, György Kovásznai was an extraordinary animator whose work is overflowing with innovation, imagination, and subtext, and Bubble Bath is his masterpiece.

Bubble Bath gets an exceptional release from Deaf Crocodile that comes with a solid audio/video presentation, five short films, and insightful extras; highly recommended.

 

Written by Michael Den Boer