25.05.2026

At Czech Film Wednesday on June 3, we have a very special specialty: the experimental film "Happy end" from 1967 by director Oldřich Lipský, which runs completely backwards. We think we can say with some certainty: You've never seen a movie like this!

The butcher Bedřich lies under the guillotine at the beginning, headless. But why was he executed? What did he do? Bedřich tells us himself, going back step by step. However, he tells it backwards, i.e. forwards. It takes a few pull-ups to reconcile the image and the narrative. Nevertheless, we follow him on his way back from the terrible deed to the romantic beginning of his marriage, where broken things become whole again, dead people get up again and drowned people become great swimmers again.

With audience favorites such as Vladimír Menšík and Josef Abrhám, some representatives of the first ranks of Czech actors have embarked on the experiment in the "wild 60s" of Czech cinematography.

(This is an automatic translation by DeepL Translator.)