Marketa Lazarová (1967)

User Rating:

8.5/10   

Director:

Frantisek Vlácil

Writers:

Frantisek Pavlícek (writer)
Vladislav Vancura (novel)

Release Date:

24 November 1967 (Czechoslovakia)

Genre:

Drama | History | Romance

Plot:

A minor Czech clan falls afoul of the King in medieval times, against the backdrop of Christianity replacing Paganism.

Plot Keywords:

Winter | Footpad | Nunnery | Based On Novel | Character Name In Title

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Josef Kemr	...	Kozlík
Magda Vásáryová	...	Marketa Lazarova
Nada Hejna	...	Katerina
Jaroslav Moucka	...	Jan
Frantisek Velecký	...	Mikolás
Karel Vasicek	...	Jirí
Ivan Palúch	...	Adam 'One-handed'
Martin Mrazek	...	Václav
Václav Sloup	...	Simon
Pavla Polaskova	...	Alexandria
Alena Pavlíková	...	Drahuse
Michal Kozuch	...	Lazar
Zdenek Lipovcan	...	Jakub
Harry Studt	...	Old Count Kristián
Vlastimil Harapes	...	Young Count Kristián

Runtime:

162 min | USA:180 min

Country:

Czechoslovakia

Language:

Czech

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16

Company:

Filmové Studio Barrandov

Czechs best film?

I recently saw this at the 2007 Palm Springs International Film Festival as one of the two Archival Treasure's they were showing among the 254 new films. This film has been in limited release around the world since it's original 1967 release and I understand that this will be available for the first time on DVD this year. I don't believe it was ever available in video form. I also understand that this will be restored for the DVD release but the print I saw was very dark and washed out. It is a black and white film but there was little contrast of black and white and the film was very scratched so it must have been an original faded print. This in itself is going to detract my review of it. This is a hard to find film that many have never seen despite the fact that the Czech film community voted it the best film in Czech film history. The beautiful Magda Vásáryová makes her acting debut in this film in the title role although she has a limited speaking role until toward the end. She would go on to an almost 25 year career in films before retiring in 1991. Famed director Frantisek Vlácil is at the peak of his directorial career with this film he adapted from the very popular novel by Vladislav Vancura. It took two years to film this in mostly winter scenes in the forests of southern Czechoslovakia. It is set in the 13th century and details the medieval era clash of two rival clans, paganism and Christianity, a doomed love affair between Mikolas and Marketa and the poor rural class living under the king. The runtime of the print I saw was 152 minutes. Good music and some great visuals but not that visually rewarding probably due to the quality of the print and far from the epic I thought it would be. Nice to see on the big screen but I would wait for a properly restored cleaned up DVD version. It lasted about an hour too long. This is not for everybody and I couldn't recommend it. I had every expectation of liking it but it grew boring. I would give it a 5.5 out of 10.