In her documentary The Metamorphoses of my Friend Eva Drahomíra Vihanová sketches an unconventional portrait of the jazz singer Eva Olmerová. Jazz music was long taboo in several Eastern European countries, among them Czechoslovakia, as a result of which Olmerová was not able to perform for a long time. The ‘metamorphoses’ provide a picture of a personality in whose life the many stumbling-blocks have left their mark. It has become an emotional portrait in which Olmerová’s mood oscillates rapidly from depression to joy in singing to melancholy, often under the influence of alcohol.Vihanová worked for almost a year n shooting the film, so the viewer is transported as it were in all the confusing stages of Olmerová’s feelings. We hear fragments of conversations between Olmerová and Vihanová, about her loneliness, the deathly silences, we witness her admit she is afraid of people and we see her use jokes and verbal attacks as a form of self-defence. The film also shows Olmerová during shows in which she fascinates audiences with her husky voice.The Metamorphoses of my Friend Eva shows a woman in whom melodrama, sympathy and passion all want to react at once. An idiosyncratic and personal documentary, made in an age when ‘television has made a habit of cheerful lives, polished portraits and half truths in serial form’ (Jiri Cieslar).
