Leaving

I never had a particularly strong relationship with Václav Havel, as a politician he had his pros and cons, but as a playwright he was always much more interesting. I have seen Leaving twice at the Pilsen theatre and, although many of the symbols and double and triple meanings in it have remained hidden from me, I still consider it to be Havel's most comprehensible work. I was therefore looking forward to the film. The plot is not worth discussing - if you like (not only) Havel's absurdist pieces, his distinctive poetry and even more distinctive humor that makes you think, you will find it to your liking. If not, you will probably be disappointed or even annoyed by Leaving. It's hard to say whether the audience will form a third, middle camp in addition to these two. Yet everything except the plot requires more attention. First of all, it's the actors, actresses and their roles and parts. I can't help but think that every single person who appeared on screen was excellent and had their place. I especially appreciated the idea - thank God for that - to cast actors like Holubová, Dušek, Vilhelmová or Budař in completely different characters than they are known for (i.e., not smiling, not vulgar... etc.). Josef Abrhám was simply excellent, Dagmar Havlová was amazingly cold, the "Klaus-like" Kaiser and Lábus prove that small roles really don't exist... And I could go on and on. Pavlíček's music (the variation on “Rusalka" is perfect) and Malíř's cinematography also contributed significantly to Leaving. As for the direction... It’s a bit worse. I'm not saying bad, not at all (The Tempest, for example, is an absolutely riveting scene), but it didn't convince me that I was watching a movie. In short, it was still theatre, filmed with a movie camera for big money and shown in a movie theatre. For this not-so-perfect illusion, I'm taking a star off, but even so, Leaving gets a pure four stars, which is increasingly rare in Czech cinema lately. (03/18/2011)

* 18/12/2011 :-( Absurdist theatre on the screen and nothing else. Leaving doesn’t have that much charm, it’s not very funny, but that doesn’t matter if you are willing to listen to it. What’s a little amazing, and also a shame, is that after an entire life wishing to make a film, Havel didn’t make his (unfortunately) only film more “film-like”. But I don’t regret the ninety minutes I spent with Leaving. Václav Havel was just too smart a person to make a silly or uninteresting film. And after reading the comments of certain individuals, he’s someone we might have not been worthy of as a nation. Honour your memory. (12/18/2011)

Such a colorful mausoleum of Václav Havel. The film is so terribly overloaded with intentional absurdity, tastelessness and diverse influences that any sting of the original text disappears in it and, unfortunately, its meaning is equally flawed. It is exactly the same syndrome that the Theatre on the Balustrade is dealing with after the death of Petr Lébl. Mixing Chekhov, Shakespeare, a Western, the First Republic, totalitarianism, entrepreneurial Baroque and many other ingredients so that the result has a clear meaning and really says something... that is the prerogative of great directors. And that's just not what Havel (with all due respect to him) is. Leaving is quite cute and fun in places, but as a whole it feels colorless and unnecessary. I don't know what the poet was saying - although otherwise, I like his verses very much. (03/17/2011)

If someone other than Václav Havel had directed that movie, I would absolutely dismiss it. The play on the same topic in the theater is excellent and it is very apparent that it should have stayed in the theater. The limited space of the stage actually helps it, as there is not much room to expand. The movie is a showcase of great Czech actors and somewhat of a tribute to itself, but sadly, that's all. (03/12/2014)

Content-wise I have no problem with it - it is after all Havel's reflection on his own statesmanship. However, I miss the point of why it is so overly kitschy (the constant rides of Malíř's camera after half an hour are so maddening), and why the well-known actors are competing with each other to see who can overact more. Yes, the theatre of the absurd has its own laws, but in that case, it should stay in theaters because it has absolutely nothing to do with the film medium. Overall, Leaving is nothing but a film illustration of itself, which makes it perfectly self-centered, repulsive to the ordinary film viewer, and completely pointless. In terms of receiving Czech film awards, this is either another product of theatrical posthumous glorification, or the rest of Czech creations should never have seen the light of day. (02/09/2012)