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Film Description
Three wonderful films from the Czech director Frantisek Vlacil: Marketa Lazarova, The Valley of the Bees and Adelheid, PLUS a feature-length documentary about the filmmaker, Sentiment (Hejtmanek, 2003).
'Marketa Lazarova' (1967) is based on the novel by Vladislav Vancura, which is in turn inspired by a centuries-old Czech legend. Set in the Middle Ages against the backdrop of the shift from Paganism to Christianity, the film tells the story of the rivalry between two corrupt clans of pillaging feudal lords who regard themselves as noble knights, but are in reality a raping, robbing lot, slaves to the many superstitions that grip their land. Magda Vasaryova stars as Marketa Lazarova, whose misfortune begins when she is kidnapped and abused by three members of one of the clans: Kozlik (Josef Kemr) and his sons Mikolas (Frantisek Velecky) and Adam (Ivan Paluch). When Marketa and Mikolas begin to fall in love, their affair is brutally ended.
'The Valley of the Bees' (1968) is also set in the Middle Ages. Cast out by his father, young Ondrej (Petr Cepek) joins the Order of the Teutonic Knights, where he is raised by strict monk, Armin (Jan Kacer). After years of hardship, Ondrej escapes from the Order when he is wrongly punished, and sets out for his former home. Arriving to discover his father to be dead, Armin now not only assumes control of his fathers properties, but seeks to marry his former stepmother.
'Adelheid' (1970), Vlacil's first colour film, is a post-WWII drama telling the story of a love affair doomed to failure by the forces of war and politics. In the aftermath of the Second World War, Czech airman Viktor (Petr Cepek) returns home from his tour of duty with the British RAF with the intention of claiming a German factory on the Czech-German border. There he meets the beautiful Adelheid (Emma Cerna), daughter of the factory's former owner, who is now reduced to servitude. Viktor falls in love with Adelheid, but lingering resentment and political strife stand in the way of their happiness.
