Thirty-two-year-old Boleslav Polívka gives a truly brilliant and universally comprehensible performance as the thoughtful and talented university student Jan Dostál, who must endure humiliating interviews and undisguised corruption in order to pursue what he considers a meaningful profession as a train engineer. Contributing to the evocatively fluid character of Věra Chytilová’s subtly layered and bitterly comedic parable of life under Normalization are masters in their respective fields Ivan Šlapeta (cinematography), Jiří Brožek (editing), and Laco Déczi (soundtrack).
Věra Chytilová (1929–2014) helped to put Czechoslovak cinema on the international map in the 1960s with her features Something Different (1963), Daisies (1966) and Fruit of Paradise (1969). In subsequent features as well she responded intractably to the deformation of human relationships, to social problems, and to the political climate of normalisation (Prefab Story, 1979; Calamity, 1981; Wolf’s Lair, 1986; Tainted Horseplay, 1988) and the post-revolutionary era (The Inheritance, 1992; Traps, 1998; Pleasant Moments, 2006). Her dedication to moral issues is also apparent in her documentary work (e.g. Inexorable Time, 1978; Prague – The Restless Heart of Europe, 1984; Flights and Falls, 2000; In Search of Ester, 2005). Alongside a series of accolades, she also holds the Award for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema, presented to her at KVIFF in 2000.
