Eugene among Us

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1980

Production year

1978—1980

Premiere

1 October 1990

Runtime

74 min

Director

Petr Nýdrle

Category

film

Genre

satire

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionstudent filmlong

Original title

Evžen mezi námi

Czech title

Evžen mezi námi

English title

Eugene among Us

Summary

It was not only the feature films of famous directors that ended up in the censors’ vaults during the “normalisation” period, student works arrived there too. One example is the negativistic satire Evžen mezi námi (Eugene among Us), made by FAMU student Petr Nýdrle in 1981. It wasn’t until 1990 that the film, starring Jan Kraus, made it to the cinemas. The hero is a naive country boy who comes to Prague to become an artist. Instead of a career as a non-conformist poet and writer, he very gladly settles for the post of a valued author of half-witted, pro-regime song lyrics. Despite having lost a lot of its provocativeness over the years, the film remains a bitter testimony to the times and showcases the good acting form of Kraus and Jiří Bartoška. Eugene among Us also has commemorative value in that some members of Prague’s Bohemian set of the time flash by on screen, mostly in self-styled cameo roles.

Synopsis

Evžen Les lives in a village with his father and older brother who vainly attempts to study law. Evžen longs for a different life, and he thus packs his suitcase one day and leaves for Prague. He has no relatives or friends there, and he thus finds a shelter in a cemetery in the evening to spend the night. Although he is ready to return to his village the next day, he meets the drunken prostitute Berta at the railway station. Berta takes him to a party of intellectuals and then to her place for the night. But he is thrown out by Berta's mother in the morning. Evžen must again depend on the cemetery. This time, however, he is caught by the assiduous pensioner Koutný who takes him to a police station. As soon as Evžen is released, he returns to the cemetery to get his things and meets a nice young gravedigger who not only feeds him but also lets him stay in the gravedigger's shed. Evžen finds himself a job, starting as a road sweeper, and tries to write poems. He does not get far with them, and thus decides to write song lyrics. The lyrics committee turns them down, but Evžen does not give up. Observing life around him, he tries to discover what would quickly bring him success. One day, he receives an offer to write the lyrics for a song about pioneers. Evžen hesitates for only a moment. – The television broadcasts a big concert, and its lyrics star Evžen does not mind at all that his lyrics are silly. He goes to the gravedigger to show off a laudatory magazine article. But the gravedigger already has his own opinion on Evžen's success and dryly tells the young man that his place has already been occupied. A dead person has just been buried on the spot where Evžen recently spent his nights.

Note

Film Eugene among Us was created as a graduate´s film at the Film and TV School of Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU) between 1978 and 1980 at the Department of Camera (it was the diploma work of Petr Nýdrle, Martin Vadas and editor Jan Petras). The end credits state copyright 1981, but the film was completed and shown for the first time already in autumn 1980. The next closing subtitle mentions that the FAMU management promised the authors in 1980 to give it a screening. This effort succeeded only after students´ strike in November and December 1989 – the film came to distribution in 1990.

Film online

Cast

Jan Kraus

Evžen Les

Karel Heřmánek

Lexa, Evženův bratr

Josef Somr

důchodce Koutný

Jana Synková

redaktorka

Jan Schmid

redaktor Jiras

Vlastimil Bedrna

podpraporčík VB

Jitka Machová

prostitutka Berta

Ladislav Vogel

Láďa

Jiří Kodet

nový redaktor

Jiří Knot

předseda komise

Karel Augusta

popelář

Jan Vala

televizní reportér

Zdeněk Dušek

opilý muž na večírku

Simona Stašová

dívka v parku

Trio Hvězda

hudebníci

Alena Klejnová

žena na večírku

Jaroslava Kretschmerová

žena na večírku

Jana Krausová

žena na večírku

Tereza Brdečková

žena na večírku

Monika Zachová

žena na večírku

Jana Hofková

žena na večírku

Irena Kvěšová

žena na večírku

Dalibor Lipský

muž na večírku

Peter Kršák

muž na večírku

Dušan Koukal

muž na večírku

Martin Bezouška

muž na večírku

Martin Rybín

muž na večírku

Josef Koudela

muž na večírku

Jiří Bouška

muž na večírku

Tomáš Kepka

muž na večírku

Jiří Pech

muž na večírku

Jiří Sirotek

muž na večírku

Antonín Weiser

muž na večírku

Petr Hochman

muž na večírku

pes Ajax

boxer důchodce Koutného

Petr Nýdrle

člen komise

Crew and creators

Director

Petr Nýdrle

Based on

Vladimír Poštulka (Hřbitovní kvítí – literární scénář)

Director of Photography

Martin Vadas, Petr Nýdrle, Antonín Weiser

Film Editor

Jan Petras

Pedagogical management

Jan Kališ (kamera), Jiří Macháně (kamera), Josef Valušiak (střih)

Cooperation

Z. Linhartová (fotografka), Martin Vadas (fotograf)

Music

Music Composed by

archivní, Vladimír Merta

Selected Music

Bedřich Smetana (Prodaná nevěsta /Proč bychom se netěšili/), Bedřich Smetana (Prodaná nevěsta /Milostné zvířátko uděláme z vás/)

Songs

Malou mám chaloupku malou

Singer Emilie Zíchová

Cikáni kopají výkop

Song Composer Milan Dyk
Writer of Lyrics Boris Janíček
Singer Milan Dyk

Chci povědět písní

Song Composer Václav Zahradník
Writer of Lyrics Jiří Štědroň
Singer Jiří Štědroň

Renáta Náglová

Song Composer Paul Simon
Writer of Lyrics Boris Janíček
Singer Milan Dyk

Dokud mám hlavu plnou nápadů

Song Composer Aleš Sigmund
Writer of Lyrics Michal Bukovič
Singer Petr Němec

Být mlád

Song Composer Petr Hannig
Writer of Lyrics Václav Hons
Singer Tomáš Pergl

Jásejme, Pražané

Song Composer Jan Smolka
Writer of Lyrics Jan Smolka
Singer sbor Planety

Dálnice

Song Composer Jan Smrt
Writer of Lyrics Jan Krůta
Singer Sbor Lubomíra Pánka

Stavař

Song Composer Rudolf Myška
Writer of Lyrics Drahomír Illík
Singer Petr SvojtkaAlfred Strejček

Život jsou dlouhé schody

Song Composer Milan Dyk
Writer of Lyrics Boris Janíček
Singer Milan Dyk

Obyčejní tvrdohlaví lidé

Song Composer Milan Dyk
Writer of Lyrics Boris Janíček
Singer Milan Dyk

Já a on

Song Composer Bohuslav Ondráček
Writer of Lyrics Zdeněk Borovec
Singer Pavel Novák

Balada o sídlišti

Song Composer Petr Rezek
Writer of Lyrics Boris Janíček
Singer Petr Rezek

Hádej, čím chtěl být

Song Composer Vladimír Koudelka
Writer of Lyrics Vladimír Koudelka
Singer Stanislav HložekArmádní umělecký soubor Víta Nejedlého

Píseň zemědělské brigády

Song Composer Josef Stanislav
Writer of Lyrics Olga Rambousková
Singer sbor

Mouřeníni

Song Composer Milan Bartoš
Writer of Lyrics Milan Bartoš
Singer Milan Bartoš

Production info

Original Title

Evžen mezi námi

Czech Title

Evžen mezi námi

English Title

Eugene among Us

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionstudent film

Genre

satire

Student film

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1980

Production Year

1978—1980

Premiere

non-distribution premiere 6 November 1980 (kino Klub, Praha)
premiere 1 October 1990 /suitable for youths/

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

74 min

Original length in metres

2 130 meters

Distribution carrier

16mm, 35mm

Aspect ratio

1:1,37

Colour

black & white

Sound

sound

Sound system/format

mono

Versions

Czech

Dialogue languages

Czech

Subtitles languages

without subtitles

Opening/End credits languages

Czech

Awards

Vítěz

Event: Prémie Českého literárního fondu v oblasti filmové tvorby za rok 1989

1990
Praha / Czechoslovakia
Martin Vadas

Vítěz

Event: Prémie Českého literárního fondu v oblasti filmové tvorby za rok 1989

1990
Praha / Czechoslovakia
Petr Nýdrle

Vítěz

Festival: 12. festival české a slovenské filmové veselohry Novoměstský hrnec smíchu Nové Město nad Metují

1990
Nové Město nad Metují / Czechoslovakia
kolektiv tvůrců filmu

Vítěz

Event: Prémie Českého literárního fondu v oblasti filmové tvorby za rok 1989

1990
Praha / Czechoslovakia
Jan Kraus