Pearls of the Deep

  • 107'
  • Czechoslovakia
  • 1965
Based on short stories by the Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal and considered a manifesto of the Czechoslovak New Wave, this anthology film includes works by Jiří Menzel, Věra Chytilová, Jan Němec, Evald Schorm and Jaromil Jireš. The revolutionary generation of filmmakers emerged in Czechoslovakia in the 1960s and had a great impact on the country's cultural landscape.
Impostors, a piece by Němec, focuses on two eccentric old men in a tiny hospital ward. They boast about the years of their youth, telling incredible stories, but are these recollections real or fictitious? With only two actors and just one small space with empty walls and two beds, Němec is able to deliver a poignant and hilarious insight into the peculiar nature of memory and time. Already in that early piece he praises imagination and mystification as the only tools to ward off the decaying reality and fear of mortality, introducing a motif that would become central in his later works.
Directors
Jan Němec, Jiří Menzel, Evald Schorm, Věra Chytilová, Jaromil Jireš
Country of production
Czechoslovakia
Year
1965
Festival Edition
IFFR 2017
Length
107'
Medium
35mm
Original title
Perličky na dně
Language
Czech
Producer
František Sandr
Production Company
Filmové studio Barrandov
Sales
Národní filmový archív
Screenplay
Jan Němec, Věra Chytilová, Jaromil Jireš, Evald Schorm, Jiří Menzel
Cinematography
Jaroslav Kučera
Editor
Miroslav Hájek, Jiřina Lukešová
Production Design
Olin Bosák, Oldřich Okác
Sound Design
Blažej Bernard
Music
Jiří Šust, Jan Klusák
Cast
František Havel, Miloš Čtrnáctý, Josef Hejl, Jan Vašák, Jiří Reichl
Directors
Jan Němec, Jiří Menzel, Evald Schorm, Věra Chytilová, Jaromil Jireš
Country of production
Czechoslovakia
Year
1965
Festival Edition
IFFR 2017
Length
107'
Medium
35mm
Original title
Perličky na dně
Language
Czech
Producer
František Sandr
Production Company
Filmové studio Barrandov
Sales
Národní filmový archív
Screenplay
Jan Němec, Věra Chytilová, Jaromil Jireš, Evald Schorm, Jiří Menzel
Cinematography
Jaroslav Kučera
Editor
Miroslav Hájek, Jiřina Lukešová
Production Design
Olin Bosák, Oldřich Okác
Sound Design
Blažej Bernard
Music
Jiří Šust, Jan Klusák
Cast
František Havel, Miloš Čtrnáctý, Josef Hejl, Jan Vašák, Jiří Reichl