Film Archive

The Messenger

Official Selection - Out of Competition 2012 / Posel / Czech Republic 2012

Petr works as a messenger, although his volatile temperament never allows him to keep a job for very long. And what of his girlfriend, who has to put up with his moods, especially after he gets fired? He can’t wait to get out of the city, but will it do any good to escape? Maybe he should first just get things sorted out in his head.

Synopsis

Thirtysomething Petr lives in an old flat with his girlfriend. She wants to get her degree out of the way but she can’t stay focused on her studies, what with a leaking roof and Petr’s whimsical attitude. His behaviour becomes even more wayward when he causes an accident of his colleague. "I can’t keep lying for you all the time,” Petr’s girlfriend tells him when she can no longer stand his refusal to accept responsibility. Unlike him, she knows that unresolved problems just mount up. The director probes beneath the surface of this urban relationship drama, uncovering the suppressed phobias of young people who find it difficult to stop moving – they don’t realise that careering through life is bound to result in multiple accidents. Torn between the desire for freedom and the need for security, Petr abandons his former relationships, yet he’s still determined to build new ones. In his unruliness and rootlessness, he is a typical product of today’s urban existence: although it offers so many opportunities, it won’t allow anything to take root.

About the film

100 min / Color, DCP
World premiere
Director Vladimír Michálek / Screenplay Marek Epstein / Dir. of Photography Martin Štrba, Marek Brožek / Music Radim Hladík / Editor Olina Kaufmanová / Producer Igor Chvála, Darina Levová / Production Česká televize / Czech Television / Cast Matěj Hádek, Jiří Vyorálek, Eva Leimbergerová, Gabriela Mikulková, Jan Kolařík, Stanislav Zindulka, Pavel Kunert / Contact Česká televize

About the director

Vladimír Michálek (b. 1956, Mladá Boleslav, Czechoslovakia) studied documentary film direction at FAMU and then came up with his powerful debut America (Amerika, 1994), a mesmerising and artistically compelling adaptation of Franz Kafka’s novel. Before this he worked as assistant director at Barrandov Film Studios where he teamed up with the likes of Margarethe von Trotta (Rosa Luxemburg, 1985) and Ted Kotcheff (The Shooter, 1995). He chose Jakub Deml’s novel as the basis for the drama Forgotten Light (Zapomenuté světlo, 1996) which, like America and his subsequent film Sekal Has to Die (Je třeba zabít Sekala, 1998), screened in the main competition at KVIFF. The films Angel Exit (Anděl Exit, 2000) and Of Parents and Children (O rodičích a dětech, 2008) are also literary adaptations from the highly versatile director. He has also worked in theatre and television, where notable projects include the series "Mountain Rescue” (2003).