Beauty in Trouble

Colour, 35 mm
Czech Republic, 2006, 110 min
WP – World premiere
Section: Official Selection - Competition

Synopsis

In their sixth feature-length film, screenwriter Petr Jarchovský and director Jan Hřebejk – as in the tragicomedy Up and Down – touch upon complex inter-personal relationships in modern Czech society. The heroine of this love story inspired by the poem of the same name by Robert Graves, is an ordinary young woman, Marcela, who has to decide between two men: her undeserving but beloved husband, and an affable, well situated elderly foreigner. The elegant Czech-Italian represents a secure future for Marcela and her two children, and if good sense were guiding her, she wouldn’t hesitate. A central role in this narrative which, according to its creators, is about “sex, money and a good person”, however, is also given over to the heroine’s complicated family relations. Using a simple plot reminiscent of a story from a dime novel, the experienced filmmakers develop an intricate genre piece with an unexpected ending.

About the director

Jan Hřebejk (b. 1967, Prague), a respected film and stage director and screenwriter, studied script editing and screenwriting at Prague’s FAMU (1991), where he was already making noteworthy student films. He linked up with his long-term colleague, the screenwriter Petr Jarchovský, for the comedy Let’s All Sing Around (Pějme píseň dohola, 1990, dir. Ondřej Trojan), for which they wrote the screenplay. In 1993 he debuted with the 1950s musical Big Beat (Šakalí léta), which won four Czech Lions, including Best Film. He then made the hit films Cosy Dens (Pelíšky, 1999), Divided We Fall (Musíme si pomáhat, 2004 – Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film), Pupendo (2003) and Up and Down (Horem Pádem, 2004 – four Czech Lions including Best Film). He works regularly as a director for Czech Television (e.g. the family series Where Stars Fall / Kde padají hvězdy, 1996) and for the Prague theatre Divadlo pod Palmovkou.