“It was only recently that I discovered Ferreri’s film and it really made an impact on me, with its brilliant treatment of the theme – the relationship between a man and a woman, where “true” masculinity finds itself in crisis. Actor Václav Neužil drew my attention to it, saying that he was curious about the shoot itself, since Gérard Depardieu appears naked with an erect penis most of the time. I was initially put off by this, it seemed like an unnecessary “attraction” that I didn’t think I really wanted to see. But I was wide of the mark! The sex scenes and nudity in the film aren’t merely directorial or cinematographic “jerking off.” They are part of a precise and deliberate allegory of a relationship inexorably heading towards its unexpected and gritty finale.” – Jitka Rudolfová. As early as the 1970s Ferreri was already banking on what today’s dramatists have developed even further, when he gave inner conflicts a physical, shocking and critical form. He was obsessed by the mechanisms of power games and saw what they did to couples’ relationships, where the man and woman are never able to form a harmonic union.

Introduced by Jitka Rudolfová