The Bitch’s Diary

Colour, 35 mm
Czech Republic, Italy, United Kingdom, 2007, 105 min
IP – International premiere
Section: Czech Films 2006-2007

Synopsis

The heroine of this tragicomic story, at home in various exclusive domestic and foreign environments, is the ambitious student Karolína, who embarks upon a love affair with the mysterious stockbroker Alex. Their relationship is full of uncertainties and, for Karolína, is distressing and humiliating. In an attempt to extricate herself from her emotional dependence on her egocentric idol, she throws herself into other casual affairs, during which she tries to alter her behaviour towards men and set the tempo in these new liaisons herself. Her adventurous quest to find true life values, and to discover herself, leads her to take a series of ill-advised steps. The screenplay for this audience-friendly comedy by talented Irena Pavlásková was written in association with successful writer Barbara Nesvadbová.

About the director

Irena Pavlásková (b. 1960, Frýdek-Místek) studied documentary film at FAMU (1985). She graduated with the short film A Soap-Bubble World (Svět mýdlových bublinek) about the lifestyle of the disco kids of the 1980s. In 1989 she wrote and directed her successful debut, the psychological drama Time of the Servants (awarded at prestigious festivals). A disillusioning picture of society viewed through a string of extreme, intimate relationships is presented with equal conviction in her subsequent films as well, Corpus delicti (1991), A Time of Debts (1998) and the bitter-sweet romantic comedy The Bitch’s Diary (2007), based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Barbara Nesvadbová. She also offered her original vision of the world in her television work (the series GEN, GENUS, V. I. P., How They Live…, Travel Mania). She established her own production company Eydelle Film in 1997.