Film Archive

Beauty in Trouble

Official Selection - Competition 2006 / Kráska v nesnázích / Czech Republic 2006

This film about “sex, money and a good person” tells of a love triangle between an ordinary young woman, her undeserving husband and a kind, elderly Czech-Italian. Using a simple plot reminiscent of a story from a dime novel, screenwriter Petr Jarchovský and director Jan Hřebejk develop an intricate genre piece with an unexpected ending.

Synopsis

In their sixth feature-length film, screenwriter Petr Jarchovský and director Jan Hřebejk – 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 the 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 situated 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.

About the film

110 min / Color, 35 mm
World premiere
Director Jan Hřebejk / Screenplay Petr Jarchovský / Dir. of Photography Jan Malíř / Music Aleš Březina / Editor Vladimír Barák / Producer Ondřej Trojan / Production Total HelpArt T.H.A. / Cast Aňa Geislerová, Jana Brejchová, Emília Vášáryová, Josef Abrhám, Roman Luknár, Jiří Schmitzer, Jan Hrušínský, Jiří Macháček, Andrei Toader, Nikolay Penev, Adam Mišík / Contact Total HelpArt T.H.A., Falcon a.s., Česká televize, Menemsha Films, Inc. / Distributor Falcon a.s.
www: www.kraskavnesnazich.cz

About the director

Jan Hřebejk (b. 1967, Prague), a respected film and stage director and screenwriter, studied script editing and screenwriting at Prague’s FAMU (1991), where he was already making noteworthy student films. He linked up with his long-term colleague, the screenwriter Petr Jarchovský, for the comedy Let’s All Sing Around (Pějme píseň dohola, 1990, dir. Ondřej Trojan), for which they wrote the screenplay. In 1993 he debuted with the 1950s musical Big Beat (Šakalí léta), which won four Czech Lions, including Best Film. He then made the hit films Cosy Dens (Pelíšky, 1999), Divided We Fall (Musíme si pomáhat, 2004 – Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film), Pupendo (2003) and Up and Down (Horem Pádem, 2004 – four Czech Lions including Best Film). He works regularly as a director for Czech Television (e.g. the family series Where Stars Fall / Kde padají hvězdy, 1996) and for the Prague theatre Divadlo pod Palmovkou.

Contacts

Total HelpArt T.H.A.
Kříženeckého nám. 322, 152 53, Praha 5
Czech Republic
Phone: +420 267 073 007
Fax: +420 267 073 836
E-mail: [email protected]

Falcon a.s.
Radlická 3185/1c, 150 00, Praha 5
Czech Republic
Phone: +420 224 422 222
E-mail: [email protected]

Česká televize
Kavčí hory, 140 70, Praha 4
Czech Republic
Phone: +420 261 131 111
E-mail: [email protected]

Menemsha Films, Inc.
213 Rose Avenue, 2nd floor, CA 902 91, Venice
United States of America
Phone: +1 310 452 1775
Fax: +1 310 452 3740
E-mail: [email protected]