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The Girl (Eltavozott nap) was the first feature-length directorial effort of Hungarian filmmaker Marta Meszaros. Filmed in austere black-and-white, the story involves a girl's search for her biological parents. Once she finds her natural mother, the girl forsakes her relatively secure factory job to care for the ailing woman. Reconciling with her father is a trickier proposition, since the man denies everything. There is no tidy ending to The Girl; the heroine's ongoing quest for affection is sometimes successful, sometimes not, just as in real life. The oppressiveness of the Hungarian society that dictated the girl's station in life is simply "there," never overtly vilified or condemned. Scoring on its characterizations and interactions, The Girl quickly brought Marta Meszaros to the attention of the cinematic cognoscente of Eastern Europe.