Corpus Delicti

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1991

Production year

1991

Premiere

14 November 1991

Runtime

110 min

Category

film

Genre

drama, psychological

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Corpus delicti

Czech title

Corpus delicti

English title

Corpus Delicti

Summary

After her successful debut, Čas sluhů (Time of the Servants), the director Irena Pavlásková immediately made another commentary on the declining moral condition of Czech society. The psychological drama Corpus Delicti became one of the first Czech films to look doubtfully at the opportunities that opened up for the country’s morally shaken and internally enslaved citizens thanks to the “Velvet Revolution” of 1989. Together with her mother, Nelly Pavlásková, the director wrote a screenplay whose protagonists are three couples. Jana, a divorced teacher, lives with the taciturn Tomáš. However, she still helps her loser husband, Kadlec, who is a journalist. He lives with Helena, a timorous clerk. The lives of both couples are turned upside-down when they meet the older, eccentric and hedonistic Viki, who is a dissident. Despite the fact that 1989 is imminent, Viki’s estranged husband Chlad, who works for the secret police, can still do a lot of damage... Irena and Nelly Pavlásková are indicating that the “microbe of evil” festered in some people under totalitarianism, and that nothing changed this – not even the political and social changes of November 1989. Irena Pavlásková makes her arguments for this assertion in an effective and energetic manner. Moreover, thanks to the F.A. Brabec’s camerawork Corpus Delicti is a visually impressive, dynamic spectacle, in which the filmmaker offered interesting opportunities to older actors (Jiřina Bohdalová excels as Viki, while Michal Dočolomanský plays the urbane villain Chlad) as well as to her younger colleagues (Lenka Kořínková as the sensitive and moral Jana, and the excellent Karel Roden as the wretched aggressor Kadlec). The former student leader Šimon Pánek appears in the role of Tomáš. It’s possible to identify many members of the crew in the smaller roles along with several “celebrities” of that time (e.g. the critic Jan Rejžek).

Synopsis

The divorced Jana stays with the reclusive Tomáš. Jana's ex husband Jaromír Kadlec unpleasantly interferes in their life from time to time. He is a journalist with no talent and blames all his failures on the regime. He distastefully misuses the clerk Pulíková to whom he often returns drunk. Jana at times drags Tomᚠto a pub. Here the couple meet the extravagant Viki who lives with the young and muscled Gojko. Tomᚠis not satisfied with the life he has with Jana. He leaves for the countryside but returns very soon. At an avant-garde exhibition, Tomᚠintroduces Jana to his friend Gábina from the Netherlands. Viki's husband, the smooth doctor Chlad, returns from Switzerland and announces to his wife that he wants to divorce her. Viki takes her new friends to the Lukeš's where the dissidents meet. Tomᚠand Jana participate in the celebration of the Chlads' twentieth wedding anniversary. Viki invites her dissident friends while her husband Karel invites his comrades. When everybody leaves, Viki finds out that Karel had denounced her guests. She tries to warn them by phone, but then she is in the power of her husband who gradually kills her with alcohol, knowing that Jana cannot drink for health reasons. As late as after three days, Jana and Tomᚠbreak into the place and take her to hospital. But it is too late - the woman dies of cirrhosis. Tomᚠescapes to the West. It is 1989, the year of the Velvet Revolution. Jana spots doctor Chlad working again in the diplomatic service. Later she meets Tomᚠon the street, embracing the pregnant Gábina.

Film online

Cast

Lenka Kořínková

učitelka Jana

Šimon Pánek

Voice by Martin Velda
Ing. Tomáš

Jiřina Bohdalová

Viktorie Chladová zvaná Viki

Karel Roden

novinář Jaromír Kadlec, Janin bývalý muž

Jitka Asterová

úřednice Helena Pulíková zvaná Pulice

Michal Dočolomanský

Voice by Ladislav Frej
diplomat dr. Karel Chlad, Vikin manžel

Magda Čermáková

Voice by Lucie Vojtěchová
Marta

Daniel Malaniuk

Voice by David Prachař
Gojko, Vikin milenec

Háta Hlavatá

Gábina, Gojkova kamarádka z Dánska

Václav Křístek

vandrák Bobo

Milena Dvorská

Milena, Vikina přítelkyně

Jan Němec

ctitel Heleny

Miroslav Frydlewicz

šéfredaktor

Klaudie Hepnerová

Voice by Daniela Bartáková
rozhlasová redaktorka

Kateřina Frýbová

Chladův host

Stanislav Bruder

Chladův host

Julius Matula

Chladův host

Klement Lukeš

Vikin přítel

Jindřiška Lukešová

Vikina přítelkyně

Vratislav Štolba

Vikin přítel

Jiří Brožek

Vikin přítel

Jan Rejžek

Vikin přítel

Ivana Kačírková

Vikina přítelkyně

Josefa Slánská

Vikina přítelkyně

Marta Slánská

Vikina přítelkyně

Jiří Krejčí (2)

Vikin přítel

Petr Sitár

Vikin přítel

Jiří Chlumecký

člen hudební skupiny ZOO

Jan Kalousek

člen hudební skupiny ZOO

Jan Kolář

člen hudební skupiny ZOO

Jiří Matoušek

člen hudební skupiny ZOO

Jan Fuchs

lékař

Markéta Světlíková

tělocvikářka Mráčková

Eliška Vavříková

šprtka

Eva Kucová

sekretářka

Petra Procházková

dívka v hospodě

Jiří Patočka

vousáč v hospodě

Jitka Foltýnová

žena v hospodě

Viktor Riebauer

host v hospodě

Ondřej Šram

host v hospodě

Jakub Šram

host v hospodě

Miloš Větvička

host v hospodě

Jáchym Valášek

žák zkoušený z dějepisu

Kateřina Hrachovcová

žákyně zkoušená z literatury

profesoři a žáci Gymnázia Voděradská

profesoři a žáci

Blanka Jedličková

Voice by Miriam Kantorková
profesorka

Ivana Hrušková

žákyně

Daniel Hruška

žák

Tomáš Vaner

žák

Františka Čížková

host na vernisáži

Simona Rybáková

host na vernisáži

Josef Novotný (3)

houslista

Nelly Pavlásková

host v restauraci

Marie Spurná

Chladův host

Karel Kostroun

host

Zdenek Sirový ml.

Josef Veselý

Markéta Vančurová

Eva Vernerová

Roman Ťalský

Josef Žemla

Crew and creators

Second Unit Director

Stanislava Hutková

Assistant Director

Josef Kropáček

Dramaturg

Dušan Kukal

Director of Photography

F. A. Brabec

Second Unit Photography

Václav Zajíček

Camera Operator

Roman Fara

Production Designer

Libuše Jahodová, Karel Lier

Set Designer

Michal Erazim, Jiří Matějka, Eva Slívová, Robert Vlček

Costume Designer

Simona Rybáková

Film Editor

Jan Svoboda

Assistant Film Editor

Anna Mejtská

Sound Designer

Jaroslav Novák, Jitka Zvirocká (zvukové efekty)

Special Effects

Miroslav Šnábl

Titles Designed by

Čeněk Dousek

Production Manager

Jaromír Lukáš

Unit Production Manager

Antonín Pražský, Dagmar Pitráková, Irena Ladýřová, Jiří Synek

Unit Production Manager

Pavel Bačkovský

Music

Selected Music

Jan Kolář (Proroctví)

Music Performed by

Studiová skupina M. S. P.

Music Supervisor

Jiří Zobač

Songs

Cucurrucucú paloma

Song Composer Tomás Méndez Sosa
Writer of Lyrics Tomás Méndez Sosa
Singer sbor

Píseň severu

Song Composer Pavel Milan

Vy mládenci, kteří jste jako já

Singer Jiřina Bohdalová

Production info

Original Title

Corpus delicti

Czech Title

Corpus delicti

English Title

Corpus Delicti

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

drama, psychological

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1991

Production Year

1991

Production specifications

the end of the distribution monopoly 13 November 1996

Premiere

premiere 14 November 1991 /unsuitable for youths/

Creative Group

Tvůrčí skupina Miloslav Vydra – Dana Dudová, Miloslav Vydra (vedoucí tvůrčí skupiny), Dana Dudová (vedoucí produkce tvůrčí skupiny)

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

110 min

Distribution carrier

35mm

Aspect ratio

1:1,66

Colour

colour

Sound

sound

Sound system/format

mono

Versions

Czech

Dialogue languages

Czech

Subtitles languages

without subtitles

Opening/End credits languages

Czech

Awards

Vítěz

Festival: 15. mezinárodní filmový festival žen – tvůrkyň Créteil

1993
Créteil / France