Preludium

This is a very good Protectorate film with perfectly civil Jiřina Stěpničková and as always strongly theatrical Zdeněk Štěpánek playing a tormented married couple. Štěpánek succumbs to the anonymity of his porch neighbors and Stěpničková almost allows for a divorce to happen and the separation of their two children into separate households. Her mother is played by Terezie Brzková and her daughter by Nataša Tanská, so there are also strong echoes of the director's work on Grandmother. The son is played by Miroslav Červený, and we haven't managed to find out much about him yet. The full panopticon of the intimate drama is complemented by Štěpánek's collaborator Jan Pivec, and the very good Otto Rubík stands out from amongst the theater's ensemble of actors. All the other roles are handled by proven episodic actors in the most negative way possible. I like to watch Jiřina Štěpničková's contrasting films but the pairing with Štěpánek doesn't seem the best option to me. However, just like Vlasta Burian or Sophia Loren, Jiřina Štěpničková was one of the actors with absolutely disarming acting skills, which the other characters need only as a springboard for their own acting. (03/03/2009)