The Golden Queening
Country
CzechoslovakiaCopyright
1965Production year
1964—1965Premiere
22 October 1965Runtime
86 minDirector
Otakar VávraCategory
filmGenre
psychologicalTypology
featuretheatrical distributionlongOriginal title
Zlatá renetaCzech title
Zlatá renetaEnglish title
The Golden QueeningSummary
In the 1960s, director Otakar Vávra made three remarkable films inspired by the work of writer and poet František Hrubín. In addition to Srpnová neděle (August Sunday, 1960) and Romance pro křídlovku (Romance for the Bugle, 1966) there is the poetic drama Zlatá reneta, which took its inspiration from the poet’s eponymous retrospective novella. Even though Hrubín contributed to the making of this film, most of the credit for the quality of the nostalgic narrative about the impossibility of turning back the tide of time rests with the director, 54 at the time. In the part of an ageing man returning to his native village after many years away, only to become mired in memories of his first love (Eva Límanová), the director provided an attractive acting opportunity for a master of the craft Karel Höger. The film’s poetic style fits very well with motion pictures of the Czechoslovak New Wave made in the 1960s by Vávra’s students from Prague's FAMU film school. Zlatá reneta (The Golden Queening) achieved success representing Czechoslovak cinema in collecting the Golden Shell, the highest award at the international film festival of San Sebastian, as well as the FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics) and CIDALC (Comité International du Cinema Educatif et Culturel) prizes.
Synopsis
After many years, fifty-one-year old Prague librarian Jan returns to his native village, which he left as a young man. Perhaps he hopes that the landscape of his youth will restore his long-lost hopes and help him correct the mistakes he has committed in his life. It seems to him that he sees a blonde girl on the river bank, his first love Lenka. Jan enters one of the little houses and runs into his relative Anka, a not-too-friendly, worn out village woman. Anka leaves with her daughter Božka to the cinema, leaving the guest in the kitchen, but still locking the room. Neither is Božka's husband Toník, who spends some time drinking with Jan, overcordial. Jan has been abstaining from alcohol for several years already and his sleep is influenced by alcohol. When he wakes up at night in the windowless room where his hosts have accommodated him, he witnesses a bitter fight between the parents and their daughter for they disapprove her wooer. Jan faces his returning memories of the fear he experienced during the war, of problems with drunkenness as well as his unhappy relationship with Marta, whose death still took him by surprise. In the morning, he wants to find Lenka, who works in a maternity hospital, preparing an excuse for having left her a long time ago and not responding to her letters when she was about to become the single mother of his child. Lenka, growing old, does not recognize him and Jan, out of cowardice, does not reveal anything. The disappointed man leaves. Youth cannot be returned.
Photos
Cast
Karel Höger
knihovník Jan
Slávka Budínová
Marta Horáková, Janova družka
Eva Límanová
Lenka
Ilja Prachař
Toník Zuna, Janův příbuzný
Věra Tichánková
Anka, Zunova žena
Vladimíra Obručová
Božka, dcera Zunových
Blažena Holišová
Karla Skálová, Martina sestra
Ota Sklenčka
redaktor
Jarmila Bechyňová
Moulisová, Janova teta
Štěpánka Cittová
trampka
Zdeněk Blažek
zřízenec pohřebního ústavu
Antonín Kubový
zřízenec pohřebního ústavu
Zdeněk Boubelík
zřízenec pohřebního ústavu
Václav Kyzlink
úředník pohřebního ústavu
Ema Skálová
trafikantka Milena, Janova poslední družka
František Blažek
Kolda
Lubomír Pečenka
Lorenz
Eva Klímová
Lenka ve středních letech
Milan Krch
knihovník Jan jako pětatřicetiletý
Jiří Sedlmayer
knihovník Jan jako mladík
Jindřich Narenta
SA-mann
Jan Diviš
SA-mann
Jiří Valenta
SA-mann
Ilona Kubásková
žena na chodbě
František Marek
vrátný v porodnici
V. Truneček
Toník Zuna, Janův příbuzný jako mladý muž
J. Kabíčková
vedoucí
Jan Perlík
vedoucí
R. Kučera
výčepní
R. Rosenbaum
výčepní
O. Šináglová
výčepní
A. Balíková
prodavačka
R. Pachtová
prodavačka
V. Pipková
prodavačka
I. Poláková
prodavačka
B. Šafárová
prodavačka
J. Šandarová
prodavačka
B. Štorchová
prodavačka
Klášterková
prodavačka
Matějovičová
prodavačka
Procházková
prodavačka
Crew and creators
Director
Second Unit Director
Assistant Director
Based on
František Hrubín (Zlatá reneta – novela)
Screenplay
Shooting Script
Director of Photography
Second Unit Photography
Camera Operator
Production Designer
Assistent Production Designer
Set Designer
Jiří Čermák, Emanuel Dvořáček, Eva Slívová
Costume Designer
Costumes
Make-Up Artist
Film Editor
Assistant Film Editor
Sound Designer
Miloš Alster, Bohumír Brunclík (zvukové efekty)
Special Effects
Jiří Rumler, Jiří Šimunek, Ladislav Vinklárek, Vladimír Dvořák, Trikový ateliér FSB
Production Manager
Unit Production Manager
Antonín Kubový, Adolf Široký
Unit Production Manager
Cooperation
Pavla Marková (klapka), Jaromír Komárek (fotograf)
Music
Music Composed by
Music Performed by
FISYO (Music Conducted by František Belfín)
Production info
Original Title
Zlatá reneta
Czech Title
Zlatá reneta
English Title
The Golden Queening
Category
film
Typology
featuretheatrical distribution
Genre
psychological
Origin country
Czechoslovakia
Copyright
1965
Production Year
1964—1965
Production specifications
literary Screenplay approved 24 April 1964
technical Screenplay approved 8 July 1964
start of filming 24 August 1964
end of filming 21 January 1965
projection approval 27 March 1965
withdrawal from distribution 31 December 1972
Premiere
premiere 22 October 1965 /unsuitable for youths/ (celostátní)
preview 22 October 1965 (kino Sevastopol /1 týden/, Praha)
premiere 12 November 1965 /unsuitable for youths/ (kina Paříž /2 týdny/ a Bystrica /1 týden od 19. 11./, Praha)
Production
Copyright Holders
Studio
Distribution
Creative Group
Tvůrčí skupina Šmída – Fikar, Ladislav Fikar (vedoucí dramaturg tvůrčí skupiny), Bohumil Šmída (vedoucí výroby tvůrčí skupiny)
Technical info
Duration typology
feature film
Duration in minutes
86 min
Original length in metres
2 449 meters
Distribution carrier
16mm, 35mm
Aspect ratio
1:1,37
Colour
black & white
Sound
sound
Sound system/format
mono
Versions
Czech
Dialogue languages
Czech
Subtitles languages
without subtitles
Opening/End credits languages
Czech
Awards
Vítěz
Festival: 18. mezinárodní filmový festival San Sebastián
1965
San Sebastián / Spain
Vítěz
Festival: 18. mezinárodní filmový festival San Sebastián
1965
San Sebastián / Spain
Vítěz
Festival: 18. mezinárodní filmový festival San Sebastián
1965
San Sebastián / Spain
