Žižkovská romance
Réalisation:
Zbyněk BrynychPhotographie:
Jan ČuříkMusique:
Jiří SternwaldActeurs·trices:
Renata Olárová, Jiří Vala, Hanuš Bor, Jana Brejchová, Eduard Cupák, Stanislav Neumann, František Kreuzmann st., Valentina Thielová (plus)Résumés(1)
The plasterer Mirek Helebrandt and the post-office car driver Helena Dobiášová meet over a minor car crash. Mirek is after Helena a lot, however, the girl's behaviour is restrained. She hides from him that she is a single mother with a little son, who is sometimes cared for by her uncle. Also the young waitress Jana falls in love with Mirek. Helena is invited for lunch at Mirek's parents. Before that, Mirek visits her for the first time in her appartment. When Helena explains that the boy in the photograph is her son, Mirek is taken by surprise and rejects her explanation that she was too young when she delivered the child. In the evening, Mirek gets drunk at a dancing party. After all the guests leave, Jana reveals to him her feelings. In that instance the young man realizes that Helena used to be equally confused and as much in love as Jana today. He goes back to Helena who was even considering leaving her son at her uncle's for ever. The son, little Petřík, returns home. Seeing a strange man in the appartment, he turns away and runs off. Helena runs out to the street to catch him and Mirek joins her. (NFA)
(plus)Critiques (2)
More than a decade before falling ignominiously into the clutches of normalization's "cleaning up", Zbyněk Brynych was making good films. Really. Here, too, as if his inspiration came from the best bits of Italian neorealism, he tackles a serious social problem of the time. Having a child out of wedlock in the 1950s was a major trauma for young girls of the time, along with the misunderstanding of those around them; today, of course, nobody gives a shit. And not only did the then debutant, not-so-beautiful Renata Olárová capture it superbly as an actress (today they would give out Czech Lions for similar roles) but also the brisk direction helps it tremendously, the authenticity. The cinematography is always in motion, with some great visual ideas, and the lead actress is more than a worthy partner to the "Brad Pitt of our grandmothers" Jiří Vala, who perfectly combines fluttery immediacy with doubt. What's more, it's nice to see that the word "comrade" is only heard in one single scene and the Socialist ethos is completely absent. The biggest star of the 50s, Jana Brejchová, has only a small role of an excited twit and Eduard Cupák is completely ignored. The ending is atypical, but all the more interesting.
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This is really an underrated movie. It is one of the most beautiful Czech romances I have ever seen, and it is almost a shame that there is a moment when everything collapses, because it would be even nicer if this part was omitted. But the ending somewhat makes up for it. Jana Brejchová is great here, but Renata Olárová is an incredibly beautiful discovery for me.
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Annonces