Film Archive

Domestique

Official Selection - Competition 2018 / Domestik / Czech Republic, Slovak Republic 2018

Top cyclist Roman has had enough of serving as a domestique, a bicycle racer who sacrifices for the team. And since strenuous training and a strict regimen don’t lead to the type of performance he longs for, he sets up an oxygen tent at home. His obsession with having a sports career, however, renders him oblivious to his wife Šarlota’s desire to have a baby. A claustrophobic drama on the utter breakdown of a marriage almost suffocated by a machine that oxygenates the blood.

Synopsis

Roman is a domestique, a top road cyclist who takes direction from the pack leader during a race. But he’s had it up to here with thanklessly fighting for the team and he wants to go after his own individual success. Unfortunately, strenuous training and a strict regimen don’t lead to the type of performance he covets. So Roman sets up an oxygen tent in the master bedroom despite the objections of his wife Šarlota, who simply longs to have a baby. After shaking things up with the Czech internet miniseries The Term, Adam Sedlák has come out with an uncompromisingly minimalist feature debut. A claustrophobic drama about the slowly creeping yet utter breakdown of a marriage almost suffocated by a machine that oxygenates the blood.

Martin Horyna

About the film

116 min / Color, DCP
World premiere
Director Adam Sedlák / Screenplay Adam Sedlák / Dir. of Photography Dušan Husár / Music Vložte kočku / Editor Šimon Hájek / Art Director Ondřej Lipenský / Producer Jakub Jíra / Production Shore Points / Coproduction Sentimentalfilm, Česká televize, UPP, Soundsquare, Elekta Film / Cast Tereza Hofová, Jiří Konvalinka, Miroslav Hanuš, Tomáš Bambušek / Sales Stray Dogs / Distributor CinemArt, a.s.

About the director

Adam Sedlák (b. 1989, Prague). Selected filmography: Mgr. Radovan Kaluža (2011, doc.), Tereza Dratvová, Born 1989 (2012, short), L. H. (2013, short), The Term (2016, miniseries)