Jiri Trnka uses a short-story by Chekhov as a jumping start to make an amusing animated short about embarrassment, vulnerability and chivalry. This wordless tale shows a cello player taking a swim in a river; when he returns to the shore he discovers his clothes gone. On another part of the river, a lady fishing also decides to take a swim and when she returns her clothes are also missing. The two figures meet and the musician finds an ingenuous solution to the lady's nudity, which is hiding her inside his bass cello trunk. This is the beginning of one final gag.
Trnka was a master animator. I fell in love with his work after watching The Hand, a condemnation of totalitarianism. Both shorts display the same attention to detail and humor, and display the same beautiful puppets. Both also display a concentration of humanity, of the best and worst in us, in few minutes of film. It's no wonder that this master went on to inspire people like Jan Svankmajer and Jiri Barta.
Trnka was a master animator. I fell in love with his work after watching The Hand, a condemnation of totalitarianism. Both shorts display the same attention to detail and humor, and display the same beautiful puppets. Both also display a concentration of humanity, of the best and worst in us, in few minutes of film. It's no wonder that this master went on to inspire people like Jan Svankmajer and Jiri Barta.