Kawasaki’s Rose

Colour, 35 mm
Czech Republic, 2009, 95 min
Section: Czech Films 2009-2010

Synopsis

Renowned psychiatrist Pavel Josek is singled out to receive a "Memory of the Nation” medal but it transpires that this reputedly morally irreproachable dissident once collaborated with state security agencies, informing on his wife’s former boyfriend. Josek’s family and close friends try to come to terms with these new facts – each in his own way, with differing opinions, feelings and memories, none of which necessarily reflects the truth. But which truth is at stake here? Director Jan Hřebejk and screenwriter Petr Jarchovský have examined socially oppressive themes before. However, in a story about guilt, punishment, forgiveness and remorse, they have moved away from comic hyperbole in order to try their hand at psychological drama. The film, whose title was inspired by the name given to what is supposedly the most difficult origami model (its complexity reflecting the relationships between the main protagonists), won Czech Lions for the actors in the supporting roles, Ladislav Chudík and Daniela Kolářová. The film opened the Panorama section at this year’s Berlinale.

About the director

Jan Hřebejk (b. 1967, Prague) has been asserting his position as a commercially successful and critically acclaimed Czech director since his feature debut, the retro-musical Big Beat (1993). His films have won him a series of Czech and international awards. Filmography: the family tragicomedy Cosy Dens (1999 – FIPRESCI Award and Special Mention at KVIFF), the bitter-sweet tale set during the Nazi occupation Divided We Fall (2000 – Czech Lion for Best Director, Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film), the "normalisation” tragicomedy Pupendo (2003), the tear-jerking comedy set in the present Up and Down (2004 – Czech Lions for Best Director and Best Film, among others), the love story Beauty in Trouble (2006 – three Czech Lions, Special Jury Prize at KVIFF), the generational tragicomedy Teddy Bear (2007) and the acerbic comedies I’m All Good and Shameless (both 2008).