The film describes two days in the life of 17-year-old Peter, who begins his apprenticeship in a socialist department store. A lot of things go wrong. Above all, he should make sure that no one steals (and that in socialism).

Things don't go much better with Pavla after work, neither in the outdoor pool nor at the dance evening. He just seems to pass the buck everywhere.

In his feature film debut, the then 33-year-old Miloš Forman shows the life of young people in the 1960s with all the difficulties that come with love life, entering the world of work and the uptightness and stuffiness of the older generations. It was shot in Kolín on the Elbe with many amateur actors.

This film will be shown as part of the "Czech Film Wednesday" series, as always in the original version with German subtitles. If you would like to be reminded of Film Wednesday in good time and would also like to receive further information about Czech culture in the Elbe/Labe Euroregion, you can sign up for our culture newsletter .

(This is an automatic translation by Google Translator.)

All three feature films that Miloš Forman was able to shoot in Czechoslovakia have become audience favorites. This one is his first and you can already see many peculiarities that also contributed to the success of “Hoří, má panenko” (The Fire Brigade Ball, shown on Film Wednesday in June 2023), the most popular of the three films.

On the one hand, there is an honest look at the characters, without any heroes, but also without clear villains, but just people as they are. Looking back 60 years later, some of the behavior of people towards one another - the department store manager watching his all-female employees changing, girls waiting to be asked to dance, or the relationship between father and son - may seem a little strange happen. But back then it was probably pretty normal. At least he doesn't draw the characters as meanly as in the fire department ball.

The honest view is supported by the fact that Forman relies almost exclusively on amateur actors in his first film. Some were already involved in his semi-documentary debut work “Konkurs” (1963). Sometimes the presentation seems a bit wooden or stiff, but it's almost never acted.

A third striking aspect is the almost complete absence of socialism in the film. In 1963, changes were already noticeable in Czechoslovakia (especially compared to the brutally Stalinist 1950s), but the Prague Spring was still a long way away. In this respect, the realistic portrayal of people's lives, completely without heroes and without paying homage to socialism, was very courageous.

(This is an automatic translation by Google Translator.)

CSSR 1963, 86 min, OmdtU

Director: Miloš Forman

Actors: Ladislav Jakim, Pavla Novotná, Jan Vostrčil, Vladimír Pucholt, Pavel Sedláček, Zdeněk Kulhánek

(This is an automatic translation by Google Translator.)