Grandmothers Get Boosted

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1983

Production year

1983

Premiere

1 July 1984

Runtime

82 min

Director

Ladislav Rychman

Genre

comedy, sci-fi, black comedy

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

„Babičky dobíjejte přesně!“

Czech title

„Babičky dobíjejte přesně!“

English title

Grandmothers Get Boosted

Working title

Babičky

Summary

The director Ladislav Rychman became famous in the 1960s for ambitious genre-based projects (the musicals Starci na chmelu [Hop-Pickers], Dáma na kolejích [Lady on the Tracks] and the whodunit Zločin v dívčí škole [The Crime at the Girl’s School]). The “normalisation” era of Soviet entrenchment after the Warsaw Pact invasion became a complicated period for the aging filmmaker. The 1983 comedy “Babičky dobíjejte přesně!” (Grandmothers Get Boosted) represents the director’s interesting dalliance with the sci-fi genre. In this tale, inspired by a Zdeněk Hřebík short story, Rychman and his fellow screenwriter, writer, and columnist Jiří Just, play on the absurd theme of a domestic robot who has been programmed to have the utmost love for “her” family. At the same time, with exaggerated dark humour, it reflects on the “caregiving” role that normalisation society assigned to senior citizens. In the film, working women cannot manage their domestic duties, so the Biotex company comes up with a revolutionary way of improving their situation: electronic grandmothers. After much hesitation, the fiercely conscientious Róza 350 GLS model is acquired by the Louda household, but she soon causes problems for her owners. Moreover, an open war of attrition breaks out between her and the neighbour’s robotic helper, Carmen, which ends up threatening the lives of the children… The classic story also satirises the dismal relations between the neighbours, who are capable of ruthlessly harming each other for the benefit of their own affluence. Although this bizarrely conceived film remains a curiosity among viewers from the post-1989 generation who are familiar with international sci-fi productions, it has still acquired a certain cult status. The experienced actresses Libuše Havelková and Jana Dítětová make good use of their sense of humour as the ominously benevolent, murderously hostile robots. The theme of a scary robot caregiver had already appeared in Czech cinema in Jiří Trnka’s short puppet film Kybernetická babička (The Cybernetic Grandma, 1962), but it favoured a passionate, humanistic approach over satirical exaggeration.

Synopsis

The company Biotex specializes in producing electronic grandmothers. Everybody in the neighborhood of detached houses has one – except the Loudas. The scientist Jarmila Loudová, however, cannot manage her household by herself, and her husband Zdeněk is a violin player unable to help her even with the kids, Alenka and Bertík. The Loudas, tempted by the easy life of their neighbours, eventually order a grandmother, too. Their robot is called Róza and is programmed to help the family thrive and love them. She thus makes unusual meals according to the family's wishes; she wakes up Zdeněk Louda prompting him to practice the violin, and Jarmila should rest by painting. In the beginning, everything goes well but after a while, they all find out that the grandmother's care actually bothers them. The Loudas first suspect the neighbours, but then Zdeněk finds out that Róza was programmed not only to love her family, but also to hate her neighbours. The same is with Carmen, the neighbours' robot. The grandmothers alternate in their pranks and escalate them. And thus, the Loudas find their cat hanged one day and the neighbours' summerhouse is in flames. The Loudas eventually start to fear for their children, but before they can hide them, Carmen tries to kill them. Róza interferes and the two robots start a fight. The wrestle is fierce. The two finally fall down from a garage roof where their hatred took them, and get broken. Both the Loudas and their neighbours feel relieved. When a Biotex representative offers them a new robot, they strictly refuse.

Photos

zájemce

Crew and creators

Based on

Zdeněk Hřebík (Černá a bílá – povídka)

Screenplay

Jiří Just, Ladislav Rychman

Shooting Script

Ladislav Rychman

Dramaturg

Vladimír Bor

Director of Photography

Antonín Holub

Second Unit Photography

Pavel Dosoudil

Camera Operator

Roman Pavlíček

Production Designer

Oldřich Bosák

Assistent Production Designer

Jan Zázvorka ml.

Set Designer

Jiří Rulík, Ladislav Rada, Ivo Černý

Costume Designer

Petr Diviš

Costumes

Jana Ledecká, Anna Blažková

Make-Up Artist

František Čížek, Alena Šedová, Miroslav Buhr

Film Editor

Miroslav Hájek

Assistant Film Editor

Magda Hájková, Alena Chvojková

Sound Designer

Milan R. Novotný

Production Manager

Ladislav Novotný

Unit Production Manager

Miroslav Dousek, Luboš Vála

Unit Production Manager

Irena Koucká

Cooperation

Irena Neubertová (klapka), Jindřich Panáček (fotograf), Vladimír Souček (fotograf)

Music

Music Composed by

Petr a Pavel Orm

Selected Music

Vilém Blodek (V studni)

Music Performed by

Petr a Pavel Orm

Songs

Mladá láska to je ráj /V studni/

Song Composer Vilém Blodek
Writer of Lyrics Karel Sabina
Singer Libuše Havelková

Production info

Original Title

„Babičky dobíjejte přesně!“

Czech Title

„Babičky dobíjejte přesně!“

English Title

Grandmothers Get Boosted

Working Title

Babičky

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

comedy, sci-fi, black comedy

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1983

Production Year

1983

Production specifications

literary Screenplay approved 11 June 1981
start of filming 7 March 1983
technical Screenplay approved 20 April 1983
end of filming 20 December 1983
projection approval 23 December 1983
withdrawal from distribution 31 December 1989

Premiere

premiere 1 July 1984 /suitable for youths/

Production

Filmové studio Barrandov

Copyright Holders

Státní fond kinematografie

Studio

Barrandov

Distribution

Ústřední půjčovna filmů

Creative Group

1. dramaturgicko-výrobní skupina, Jiří Blažek (vedoucí 1. dramaturgicko-výrobní skupiny)

Sales

Národní filmový archiv, Obchodní oddělení

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

82 min

Original length in metres

2 345 meters

Distribution carrier

16mm, 35mm

Aspect ratio

1:1,37

Colour

colour

Sound

sound

Sound system/format

mono

Versions

Czech

Dialogue languages

Czech

Subtitles languages

without subtitles

Opening/End credits languages

Czech

Grandmothers Get Boosted

Country

Copyright

Production year

Premiere

Runtime

Director

Category

Genre

Typology

Original title

Czech title

English title

Working title

Summary

Synopsis

Photos

Cast

Petr Frolík

Michal Ryneš

Ivana Kuchařová

Eva Sodomová

Cvetana Igova

Markéta Krbušková

Václav Burkert

Karel Červinka

Anna Chrapková

Václav Janeček (2)

Jan Kolenatý

Hubert Kindl

Zuzana Krbcová

Jana Kolenatá

Libor Mika

Marcela Macáková

Renata Schmiedtmajerová

Kateřina Štiblerová

Dagmar Vlčková

Jaroslav Walter

Jaromír Císař

Josef Čurda

Ladislav Gregar

Zdeněk Grulich

Jaroslav Jeník

František Kučaba

Marta Kučabová

Václav Kolman

Jan Kratina

Ivo Mehl

Jiří Med

Naděžda Mimrová

Vladimír Pilař

Petr Pergel

Václav Petráš

Oliver Rožek

Miroslav Slouka

Václav Slivanský

Jiří Štefan (2)

Josef Valenta (2)

Bohumil Vošický

Miroslav Vondráček

Ludmila Vybíralová

Crew and creators

Director

Second Unit Director

Assistant Director

Continuity

Screenstory

Based on

Screenplay

Shooting Script

Dramaturg

Director of Photography

Second Unit Photography

Camera Operator

Production Designer

Assistent Production Designer

Set Designer

Costume Designer

Costumes

Make-Up Artist