The Nun’s Night

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1967

Production year

1966—1967

Premiere

15 December 1967

Runtime

89 min

Category

film

Genre

ballad

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Noc nevěsty

Czech title

Noc nevěsty

English title

The Nun’s Night

Summary

Screenwriter Jan Procházka and director Karel Kachyňa made many excellent films in the 1960s, including Ať žije republika! (Long Live the Republic!, 1965), Kočár do Vídně (A Carriage Going to Vienna, 1966) and Ucho (The Ear, 1970). This severe balladic film, inspired by Procházka’s novella Svatá noc (Holy Night), takes place in the 1950s. It explores the clash of two equally fanatical beliefs, and two radically different life attitudes: a religious and a communist one. However, the authors clearly side with the protagonist, a young former nun, who returns to her home farm in Southern Moravia after her father’s suicide. “The Miss” decides to work the farm alone, with the help of the potty Ambrož, and accepts a job in the local farmer’s cooperative. Refusing to abandon her faith, she attends the midnight mass, inspiring the rest of the villagers. They perceive her as the symbol of former authority and worship her as the Holy Virgin. The fanatical protagonist, later accused of pride and blasphemy by the local priest, gains a mortal adversary in the embittered Picin, chief of the local cooperative, who decides to crush the “Christmas rebellion” with a gun in his hand... This evocative film, shot in black-and-white by cinematographer Josef Illík, amounts to a country ballad that presents the 1950s as an era in which the old order is dying but the new communist regime cannot fully replace it. The protagonists wallow in guilt and despair, unable to gain forgiveness because the traditional religious beliefs and ideals of humility, steeped in the cycles of nature and the changing seasons of husbandry, have disappeared. In one of her greatest dramatic roles, Jana Brejchová gives an amazing performance as the Miss, imbuing her heroine with deep spirituality and ordinary humanity. The part of the rationalist Picin was given to Mnislav Hofmann, who mainly worked for theatre and had mostly minor roles in film. As the local priest, Josef Kemr lends great moral authority to his character.

Synopsis

One day of autumn 1950, during the forced collectivization, the farmers lead their cattle into the common stables of the new cooperative. The cooperative's chairman, Picin, publicly calls out the farmers' names. Only one among the farmers - the rich farmer Konvalinka - opposes the imposed violence in a horrific way, shooting all his cattle and himself committing suicide. The village witnesses the return of Konvalinka's daughter, nicknamed Miss [Slečna], a former nun whose cloister was closed by the new regime. She is running the remaining property alone, only with the help of the village fool Ambrož. Besides that, Miss is also feeding the cooperative's pigs. The farm-labourer Ambrož becomes the target of disgusting jokes suggesting a sexual relationship with the strict young woman employer. Picin is well aware that the members of the cooperative steal grain and not all of them have handed over their guns. Before Christmas, Miss decides to revive the village tradition and goes to the banned midnight mass on sledge. Clad in a nun's habit, she arrives at the church and blesses the people. The religious excitement of the crowd of villagers makes the priest serve the ceremony. Picin's common-law wife Filipa dies, and while the undertaker and his wife prepare her for the grave, Picin sets off to the church with a loaded gun. The priest, in front of the gathered people, scolds the former nun for pride and the young woman runs away to the fields, where in the freeze out to death. Picin, desperate of Filipa's death and blinded by hatred, shoots dead one of the farmers in front of the church. Miss dies in the frost and the members of militia arrive to the village from town.

Film online

Cast

Jana Brejchová

jeptiška zvaná Slečna, rozená Konvalinková

Mnislav Hofmann

předseda Picin

Gustáv Valach

obecní blázen Ambrož

Josef Kemr

farář

Josef Elsner

rolník Jan Šabatka

Čestmír Řanda

rolník Alois Skovajs

Jaroslav Moučka

rolník Vitásek

Josef Větrovec

rolník Josef Bařina

Valerie Kaplanová

Filipa, Picinova družka

Libuše Havelková

rolnice Klára Jedličková

Karel Houska

kostelník Tapa

Adam Matejka

hrobník Gustav

Anna Kratochvílová

Anna, hrobníkova žena

Petr Svojtka

Voice by Josef Abrhám
Karel, Skovajsův syn

Marie Mašková

stařena

Josef Koza

milicionář

Antonín Novotný

milicionář

Ladislav Kazda

strážmistr VB

Lubomíra Willigová

Skovajsova žena

Jan Kraus

kluk Martin

Simona Uhlířová

dítě

Eva Dyková

družička, Slečna jako dítě

Vl. Pokorný

výrostek

Jozef Sodoma

vesničan

Jindra Rathová

vesnická žena

Crew and creators

Second Unit Director

Milada Mikešová

Assistant Director

Stanislava Hutková

Based on

Jan Procházka (Svatá noc – novela)

Shooting Script

Karel Kachyňa

Director of Photography

Josef Illík

Camera Operator

Josef Pávek

Production Designer

Leoš Karen

Assistent Production Designer

Leopold Zeman

Costume Designer

Ester Krumbachová

Make-Up Artist

Stanislav Petřek

Film Editor

Miroslav Hájek

Sound Designer

Jiří Lenoch

Production Manager

Jaroslav Kučera

Unit Production Manager

Zdeňka Černá, Hubert Novotný

Unit Production Manager

Vít Pešina

Consultant

František Zábrodský

Cooperation

D. Fišerová (klapka), Josef Vítek (fotograf)

Music

Music Composed by

Jan Novák

Music Performed by

FISYO (Music Conducted by František Belfín)

Songs

Nesem vám noviny

Writer of Lyrics Tomáš Bečák
Singer sbor

Production info

Original Title

Noc nevěsty

Czech Title

Noc nevěsty

English Title

The Nun’s Night

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

ballad

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1967

Production Year

1966—1967

Production specifications

literary Screenplay approved 28 January 1966
technical Screenplay approved 30 September 1966
start of filming 1 November 1966
end of filming 7 June 1967
projection approval 18 July 1967
withdrawal from distribution 6 April 1973
withdrawal from distribution 1 July 1993

Premiere

premiere 29 September 1967 /unsuitable for youths/ (kino Praha /½ týdne a 5 týdnů od 2. 2. 1968/, Praha)
festival premiere 6 October 1967 (18. filmový festival pracujících – podzim ´67)
premiere 15 December 1967 /unsuitable for youths/ (celostátní)
renewed premiere 1 September 1990 /unsuitable for youths/

Studio

Hostivař

Distribution

Ústřední půjčovna filmů (původní 1967 a obnovená 1990)

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

89 min

Original length in metres

2 522 meters

Distribution carrier

16mm, 35mm

Aspect ratio

1:1,66, 1:2,35

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

Event: 5. soutěž o hudební dílo vytvořené pro film a televizi v roce 1967

1968
Praha / Czechoslovakia
Jan Novák

Vítěz

Event: Peněžitá odměna za film v rámci hodnocení produkce Filmového studia Barrandov v roce 1967

1968
Praha / Czechoslovakia
Karel Kachyňa

Vítěz

Event: Peněžitá odměna za film v rámci hodnocení produkce Filmového studia Barrandov v roce 1967

1968
Praha / Czechoslovakia
Jan Procházka

Vítěz

Event: Ceny Ústředního výboru Svazu československého spisovatelů za rok 1966

1967
Praha / Czechoslovakia
Jan Procházka

Vítěz

Festival: 28. mezinárodní filmový festival Benátky

1967
Benátky / Italy
Jan Procházka