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Film Archive

Lovers and Murderers

Czech Films 2004-2005 2005 / Milenci a vrazi / Czech Republic 2004

They murder because they love. They love to the point of murder. This film adaptation of the cult bestseller of the same name is an absurd metaphor for the fate of modern civilisation.

Lovers and Murderers Lovers and Murderers

Synopsis

A ramshackle First Republic industrialist’s villa on the periphery of Ústí nad Labem, Czechoslovakia. It’s the summer of 1966 and now the house belongs to the Kotex chemical factory. In addition to the factory manager’s apartment, the building also contains factory boarding rooms and other dismal premises, home to
itinerant and permanent residents. Here begins a tale focusing on the lives of a young and ambitious engineer, Borek Trojan, and the woman who pines for him with unrequited love - the manager’s wife, Zita, addicted to him and alcohol. There’s also the “too pure” Julda Serafín with his Christian view of the world, and his sister Madda, professing only the delights of the body. But everything here is subordinate to the explosive power of hatred, the desire for the pleasures of love, and the need to fulfil personal and professional ambitions. Polesný’s feature debut Lovers and Murderers represents another adaptation of the work of Czech literary great Vladimír Páral.

About the film

108 min / Color, 35 mm

Director Viktor Polesný / Screenplay Viktor Polesný, Petr Poledňák / Dir. of Photography Josef Špelda / Music Karel Svoboda / Editor Lenka Polesná / Producer Iva Vacková, Filip Červinka / Production ARVA Film Production koprodukce/co-production Česká televize / Cast Jiří Langmajer, Ondřej Vetchý, Zlata Adamovská, Jan Vlasák, Kristina Kloubková, Jakub Prachař, Marko Igonda, Veronika Žilková, Zuzana Norisová / Contact Czech Television - Telexport, ARVA Film Production a.s., Česká televize
www: www.milenciavrazi.cz

About the director

Viktor Polesný


Viktor Polesný (b. 1948, Prague) graduated in documentary direction from Prague’s Film Academy (FAMU) in 1977, and then worked at Czechoslovak Television and Krátký film Praha. His extensive and genre-comprehensive work has been broadcast primarily on television. In addition to television documentaries, made-for-TV movies and productions (among many others, for example, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, awarded at several TV festivals) Polesný directs cultural, music and entertainment programmes. He has also directed for the theatre. His film adaptation of Lovers and Murderers (2005), based on the Vladimír Páral novel of the same name, is his feature film debut.

Contacts

Czech Television - Telexport
Kavčí hory, 140 70, Praha 4
Czech Republic
Phone: +420 261 137 047
E-mail: [email protected]

ARVA Film Production a.s.
Poděbradská 52, 190 00, Praha 9
Czech Republic
Phone: +420 284 818 726
Fax: +420 284 818 945
E-mail: [email protected]

Česká televize
Kavčí hory, 140 70, Praha 4
Czech Republic
Phone: +420 261 131 111
E-mail: [email protected]

Guests

Filip Červinka
Producer

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