Beauty In Trouble

Director: JAN HREBEJK

In their sixth feature-length film, screenwriter Petr Jarchovský and director Jan Hrebejk as in the tragicomedy Up and Down touch upon complex inter-personal relationships in modern Czech society.

The heroine of this love story inspired by a poem of the same name by Robert Graves, is an ordinary young woman, Marcela, who has to decide between two men: her undeserving but beloved husband, and an affable, well suited elderly foreigner. The elegant Czech-Italian represents a secure future for Marcela and her two children, and if good sense were guiding her, she wouldn’t hesitate. A central role in this narrative which, according to its creators, is about “sex, money and a good person”, however, is also given over to the heroine’s complicated family relations. Using a simple plot reminiscent of a story from a dime novel, the experienced filmmakers develop an intricate genre piece with an unexpected ending. — Karlovy Vary Film Festival Catalog

CZECH REPUBLIC • 2006 • 110 MINUTES • DIRECTOR: JAN HREBEJK