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.)