Alongside regime-ordered political propaganda, director Václav Matějka also turned his attentions towards less contentious fare during the 1970s and early 80s. This film from 1982 tells the story of young teacher Petra Jánská (Zlata Adamovská), whose arrival at a small town school is driven by her desire to be closer to her boyfriend. While the idealistic teacher tries to help improve the education of her new pupils, her lover Jakub (Ivan Vyskočil) attempts to manage a tough situation afflicting his employment at a local paper mill. The small town environment is riddled with lies and machinations. Petra does her best to sift through all of this to help a pupil, Pavel. But the end result of her efforts is an unexpected tragedy. Matějka also served as screenwriter for Má láska s Jakubem (Loving James) and spiced up the tale with sequences featuring abstract “metaphorical” masked characters.
The Shrovetide festivity mingles with the experiences of the young teacher Petra. She has taken up the job of Czech teacher in a small town for the sake of her beloved Jakub who is the deputy director of the local paper-mill. Jakub hopes to be promoted to the position of the director Tomovský who is leaving for Prague. The paper-mill built flats for its employees instead of a kindergarten. But as soon as the third shift is introduced, the employees have no place to put their children. Tomovský blames Jakub for the situation and Jakub tolerates it for career reasons. Petra discovers a catastrophic lack of knowledge in her pupils and selflessly begins to make up for the defficiencies with them. But she does not meet any understanding from her older colleagues because she disturbs the well-established standstill. Petra is worried about one pupil, Pavel. The boy often runs away from both home and school and is under the influence of his brother Jirka who ended up oin a wheelchair after suffering a severe injury. Petra finds it difficult to uncover the core of the problem in the petit-bourgeois town where everybody knows each other and no one wants to talk about anything. Last year, the excellent student Jirka successfully passed the entrance exams to a grammar school but was not admitted due to too many applicants. His mother took a bottle of cognac and set off to visit Tomovský - a member of the entrance commission - to ask him to intercede for her son. However, the father of the boys, who works as a foreman in the paper-mill, has been a big critic of the director, and Toovský thus not only refuses to help but moreover makes public the reported attempt to bribe him. Jirka jumps out of the window in despair. Petra can't stomach Jakub's careerism and finishes with him. During a ball attended by the entire town, the young teacher takes the director aside and harshly reproaches him for getting even through children. Pavel overhears it by accident and comes to Petra to express his thanks. Before the ball is over, the director learns that his son, a talented hockey player who is the reason for his moving to Prague, has died in a car accident. Jakub tries to live with his ex-girlfriend Marie, but realizes that the only thing which unites them is loneliness, and he finds his disguised love - Petra - in the Shrovetide whirl.
učitelka Petra Jánská/maska cikánky
náměstek Ing. Jakub Horec, Petřin přítel
ředitel papírny Martin Tomšovský/maska rychtáře
učitelka Věra Tomšovská, ředitelova manželka
ředitel školy Kuneš
Máša, členka souboru Komenium
Jarda, Mášin ženich
Tomáš/maska žalobce
učitelka Maruška Zemánková
učitelka Jarmila Nováková
Ing. Marie Brožová/maska soudce
učitel Václav Rys, zástupce ředitele
učitelka Drahuna
mistr v papírně Karel Horák
Horec, Jakubův otec
Klára, členka souboru Komenium
Ing. Lhoták
Helena, Jakubova švagrová
Ivan, syn Tomšovských
Eva, Ivanova přítelkyně
Pavel, Horákův syn
Jirka, Pavlův bratr
Slávka Horáková, Pavlova a Jirkova matka
tělocvikář Pavla Bárta
učitelka/maska žitný
učitelka/maska ovesný
učitelka/svatebčanka
maska matky masopustu
zdravotní sestra Alena
Mášin otec
Mášina matka
učitelka
učitelka
sekretářka
MUDr. Slezák
Honza, Jakubův bratr
Hanuš, otec Věry Tomšovské
předseda CZV KSČ
školní inspektor Jaroslav Pouznar
školník
maska exekutora
pacientka/maska šaška s flétnou
cvalík Čenda
úřednice MNV Tánská
maska muže s medvědem
maska dědka houslisty
maska flašinetáře
maska starého cikána
maska cikánky s vějířem
maska staré cikánky
maska trumpetisty
maska staré cikánky
maska smrťáka se psem
maska žebráka
příslušník VB/svatebčan
žákyně Maruška
číšník
svatebčan
matrikářka
Maruška
dívka
dívka
lékař
maska policajta/svatebčan
kamarád
kamarád
maska starce s kočárem
maska akrobatky
vrchní sestra
maska nevěsty
maska pozounista
šplhoun Vítek
mistr v továrně
Honzova dcera
Honzův syn
muž v nemocnici
maska bubeníka
maska houslisty
maska dědka s fajfkou
maska harmonikáře
maska klarinetisty
maska smrťáka s kosou
mladý chlapec
pihovatá Helča
vytáhlý Karel
řidič náklaďáku
muž s maskou koně
servírka
servírka
svatebčanka
muzikant
žák
žák
žákyně
Vítězslav Kulle
Miroslav Buberle, Jaroslav Chytrý, Karel Karas, Ladislav Winkelhöfer
Jarmila Konečná, Katarína Kissoczyová (masopustní masky), Irena Marečková (masopustní masky)
Tomáš Baloun, Eva Charvátová, Iva Šetková
Vojtěch Panáček
Zdeněk Dukát (fotograf), Miroslav Jirsa (fotograf), Vladimír Souček (fotograf)
Song Composer Petr Hapka
Writer of Lyrics Zdeněk Rytíř
Singer Jan Hartl [dab]Karel Zich
Singer sbor
Singer sbor
Singer sbor
Má láska s Jakubem
Má láska s Jakubem
Loving James
Masopust
film
featuretheatrical distribution
psychological
Czechoslovakia
1982
1981—1982
literary Screenplay approved 25 March 1981
technical Screenplay approved 27 July 1981
start of filming 28 July 1981
end of filming 11 May 1982
projection approval 21 May 1982
withdrawal from distribution 31 December 1987
premiere 10 December 1982 /unsuitable for youths/
Dramaturgická skupina Miroslava Hladkého, Miroslav Hladký (vedoucí dramaturgické skupiny), 5. dramaturgicko-výrobní skupina, Miloslav Vydra (vedoucí 5. dramaturgicko-výrobní skupiny)
feature film
97 min
2 565 meters
16mm, 35mm
1:1,37
colour
sound
mono
Czech
Czech
without subtitles
Czech
Festival: 21. festival českých a slovenských filmů Ostrava
1983
Ostrava / Czechoslovakia
Josef Vinklář
Festival: 21. festival českých a slovenských filmů Ostrava
1983
Ostrava / Czechoslovakia
Festival: 21. festival českých a slovenských filmů Ostrava
1983
Ostrava / Czechoslovakia
Petr Hapka