Film Archive

Mirrors in the Dark

East of the West Competition 2021 / Zrcadla ve tmě / Czech Republic 2021

Supposedly, all it takes is 36 questions and you’ll fall in love with anyone. Marie (Alena Doláková), a dancer who has just turned thirty, and her boyfriend František decide to check out this scientific theory for themselves. Yet can we rely on our love for other people if we don’t even know ourselves? A supremely contemporary view of 30-something individuals trying to navigate the way ahead.

Synopsis

Supposedly, all it takes is 36 questions and you’ll fall in love with anyone. Marie (Alena Doláková), a dancer who has just turned thirty, and her boyfriend František decide to check out this scientific theory for themselves. Yet can a questionnaire – no matter how exhaustive – elicit their genuine misgivings as well? This much anticipated feature debut by Šimon Holý conveys the fragility of millennials in the presence of others as they try variously to navigate the way ahead. The story is told in a resolute cinematic language, where equal weight is afforded both to the laudably precise dialogues and the characters’ expressive faces. Taking a supremely contemporary view of 30-something individuals, the film asks whether we can rely on our love for other people if we don’t even know ourselves.

Martin Horyna

About the film

84 min / Black & white, DCP
World premiere
Director Šimon Holý / Screenplay Šimon Holý / Dir. of Photography Jana Hojdová / Music Šimon Holý / Editor Sabina Mladenová / Art Director Anežka Karasová, Michaela Kyselová / Producer Šimon Holý / Production šššššFilm / Coproduction Bridge Films, Silk Films / Cast Alena Doláková, Bořek Joura, Eliška Soukupová, Václav Vašák, Markéta Tannerová, Martin Dědoch / Contact šššššFilm, Gabriela Vágner / Distributor Aerofilms

About the director

Šimon Holý (1994, Prague). Selected filmography: Reflection of Light on the Wall (2014, short), SAN (2014, short), Everything (2016, short), A Little Love (2016, medium-length), Mirrors in the Dark (2021).