(2008, 113 min)
Country: Czech Republic, Germany, France
Director: Bohdan Sláma
Studio: Film Movement
SYNOPSIS:
A poignant and affecting drama about a repressed gay schoolteacher who moves to a Czech farming village
and befriends a lonely widow and her teenage son. An original and very memorable score by Vladimír Godár
brings an unusual and graceful mood to the film.
REVIEW:
A lonely, closeted city teacher escapes to the Czech countryside in search of a new life in this tender,
poignant drama. Dark-haired, bespectacled and painfully shy, young natural sciences teacher Petr
(Pavel Liška) inexplicably leaves a prestigious Prague school to work with students in a small school in
the countryside. The farmers and villagers are perplexed but quickly accept him into their community.
Among them is widow Marie (Zuzana Bydžovská), who, with her hot 17-year-old son, rigorously tend a farm.
The young teacher becomes friends with the woman, but romance does not develop, much to Marie’s
disappointment. It soon becomes clear that the painfully unhappy Petr is gay but fears that that he cannot
tell a soul, especially the conservative villagers. But, when drunk one night, Petr's lust gets the better
of him with the boy and his actions threaten to destroy all that he has worked for.
Vividly drawn, complex characters (including some memorable supporting ones); the beautiful Czech
countryside; and themes such as the fear of intimacy, and the search for affection, acceptance and
redemption make this both an entertaining and affecting story.
(Czech with English subtitles)
-- Raymond Murray ( http://www.tlavideo.com )
