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Film Archive

It's Better to Be Wealthy and Healthy Than Poor and Ill

Liberated 2019 / Lepšie byť bohatý a zdravý ako chudobný a chorý / Czechoslovakia 1992

With this dark comedy about two women stumbling along toward their dreams, Juraj Jakubisko concluded his loose trilogy about freedom and fortune while further exploring the subject of morality. Starring Deana Jakubisková-Horváthová as the Slovak Nona, and Dagmar Havlová as the Moravian Ester.

It's Better to Be Wealthy and Healthy Than Poor and Ill It's Better to Be Wealthy and Healthy Than Poor and Ill It's Better to Be Wealthy and Healthy Than Poor and Ill It's Better to Be Wealthy and Healthy Than Poor and Ill

Synopsis

After the fall of communism, Nona and Ester – the protagonists of this comedy about freedom and how it isn’t always sweet – try to suppress their controversial past as they build a better life for themselves. But the path they choose isn’t particularly straight or narrow. What’s more, just as success seems within reach, the arrival of Nona’s long-ago lover transforms their randomly-arranged but solid partnership into rivalry. Following Birds, Orphans and Fools (1969) and Sitting on a Branch, Enjoying Myself (1989), Juraj Jakubisko concluded his loose trilogy about fortune and freedom in 1992 with a zany tale of two women stumbling along toward their dreams. The film, whose satirical tone skewers wealth and morality, was highly topical then and even more so today.

Eva Zaoralová (2012)

About the film

108 min / Color, 35 mm

Director Juraj Jakubisko / Screenplay Juraj Jakubisko, Jozef Paštéka / Dir. of Photography Viktor Růžička / Music Jiří Bulis, Miloš Krkoška / Editor Jiří Brožek / Art Director Tomáš Berka, Slávo Procházka / Producer Ivan Filus / Production Mirofilm / Cast Deana Jakubisková-Horváthová, Dagmar Havlová, Juraj Kukura, Ľubomír Paulovič, Vilma Jamnická / Contact Deana Jakubisková, Jakubisko Film s.r.o.

About the director

Juraj Jakubisko

Juraj Jakubisko (b. 1938, Kojšov, Czechoslovakia). Selected filmography: The Prime of Life (1967), The Deserter and the Nomads (1968), Birds, Orphans and Fools (1969), See You in Hell, Friends (1970), The Millennial Bee (1983), The Feather Fairy (1985), Sitting on a Branch, Enjoying Myself (1989), It’s Better to Be Wealthy and Healthy Than Poor and Ill (1992), Bathory (2008)

Contacts

Deana Jakubisková
Palác Lucerna, 116 02, Praha 1
Czech Republic
Phone: +420 296 236 353
Fax: +420 296 236 383
E-mail: [email protected]

Jakubisko Film s.r.o.
Palác Lucerna, 116 02, Praha 1
Czech Republic
Phone: +420 296 23 65 00
Fax: +420 296 236 383
E-mail: [email protected]

Guests

Juraj Jakubisko

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