Oldřich and Božena

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1984

Production year

1984

Premiere

1 August 1985

Runtime

84 min

Category

film

Genre

drama, historical

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Oldřich a Božena

Czech title

Oldřich a Božena

English title

Oldřich and Božena

Summary

The poet František Hrubín took the Oldřich and Božena love story from Czech mythology and adapted it into a theatre play. Towards the end of the 1960s, he developed his material further into a screenplay, which director Otakar Vávra went on to turn into a film in 1984. The motion picture completed Vávra’s Hrubín series of films from the 1960s – the others are Zlatá reneta (Golden Queen, 1965) and Romance pro křídlovku (Romance for the Bugle, 1966). The historical film, set in the late 10th and early 11th centuries, is a story of great love that will bring about the rebirth of the Bohemian Přemyslid royal dynasty. The German emperor plots to have the child of Oldřich and Božena murdered – the idea of their conceiving an heir with Bohemian blood isn’t to his liking. But he fails… This breath-taking, “patriotic” and historical costume drama stars Jiří Bartoška as Oldřich, Ilona Svobodová as Božena and Jiří Adamíra as the emperor’s villainous envoy, Gunter.

Synopsis

It is the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries and it seems that the Přemyslide family, and thus the entire Bohemian state, faces termination. Oldřich kidnaps the married Božena during the solstice festivities. Božena's husband Křesina is later in a fighting stabbed to death by the chaplain, Oldřich's helper. Nine months following the event, Božena is to deliver the child of Oldřich, whose legitimate wife Juta is infertile. The Emperor orders Oldřich to repudiate Božena, mainly because he does not wish any Přemyslide successor of Bohemian origin on the throne. He dispatches the hermit Gunter with several "penitents", who are, in fact, killers, to Bohemia. The legitimate Duke Jaromír is sterile, too, because his own brother Boleslav arranged his castration. Gunter fails to convince Oldřich to give up Božena and decides to murder him. The chaplain who should help him in this rather gets assassinated instead of Oldřich. His death opens Oldřich's eyes and makes him act. Oldřich captures the traitor Kochan; he orders servants to make Jaromír and Gunter's men drunk and then either kills them or takes them captive. He forces Kochan to blind Jaromír, sends Juta to a convent and himself leaves for Prague Castle to proclaim himself the Bohemian Duke. At that very moment, Božena delivers him a son who is given the name Břetislav. Oldřich sends Gunter to the Emperor to give him the news. The son Břetislav later grows up to be the sovereign who unites the lands of Bohemia and thus lays the foundations of the Bohemian state.

Note

The residence of the Prince for the film was built by the architect Jindřich Goetz and it was situated behind Barrandov Studios. Six-hundred-years old beams fished out from the bottom of the Vltava river near the Novotný footbridge were used for the construction.

Film online

Cast

Jiří Bartoška

kníže Oldřich

Jana Šulcová

Juta, Oldřichova žena

Ladislav Frej

kníže Jaromír, Oldřichův bratr

Jiří Adamíra

poustevník Guntr

Gustav Opočenský

Vršovec Kochan

Boris Rösner

Vršovec Mutina

Libuše Geprtová

porodní bába

Valerie Kaplanová

zaříkávačka

Naďa Hejná

zaříkávačka

Oldřich Navrátil

Křesina, Boženin muž

Jiří Hein

ozbrojenec

Monika Hladová

Boženina služka

Petra Jindrová

Boženina služka

Klára Jirsáková

Boženina služka

Soňa Ondroušková

Boženina služka

Martina Gasparovičová

dívka z Boženiny družiny

Yvetta Kornová

Jutina služka

Vida Skalská

Jutina služka

Světlana Nálepková

Jutina dvorní dáma

Jana Vychodilová

Jutina dvorní dáma

Eva Řepíková

Voice by Ludmila Roubíková
stará žena

Zdeněk Srstka

katův pacholek

Jiří Tomek

hudebník

Michal Javůrek

hudebník

Petr Kilián

hudebník

Igor Křižák

hudebník

Radek Nečas

hudebník

Pavel Sapák

hudebník

František Stupka

katův pacholek

Josef Pechanec

družiník

Jaroslav Šanda

družiník

Ludvík Wolf

družiník

Ladislav Kocourek

družiník

Zdeněk Krumpl

družiník

Zdenka Adlerová

tanečnice

Helena Beránková

tanečnice

Silvie Bicková

tanečnice

Pavel Blajze

tanečník

Libor Blažek

tanečník

Petr Blažík

tanečník

Jitka Brešová

tanečnice

Zdeněk Cihlář

tanečník

Miroslav Dirga

tanečník

Dagmar Dostálová

tanečnice

Dana Dvořáková

tanečnice

Jiří Fajir

tanečník

Alexander Ferdus

tanečník

Renáta Fučíková

tanečnice

Renata Hanáková

tanečnice

Ivana Herelová

tanečnice

Milan Chlud

tanečník

Alena Chludová

tanečnice

Evžen Jahoda

tanečník

Marcela Janíčková

tanečnice

Dagmar Ježková

tanečnice

Bronislava Kaloudová

tanečnice

Zdeněk Kašpar

tanečník

Alena Kiesewetterová

tanečnice

Kateřina Komárková

tanečnice

Hana Kozáková

tanečnice

Stanislav Kříž

tanečník

Julie Kubaláková

tanečnice

Jiří Kulajka

tanečník

Ivana Lančaričová

tanečnice

Ivo Lepold

tanečník

Ivan Lysický

tanečník

Petr Liškutín

tanečník

Karel Littera

tanečník

Tomáš Malinovský

tanečník

Lenka Michnová

tanečnice

Jiří Mráček

tanečník

Milan Navrátil (2)

tanečník

Ivana Navrátilová

tanečnice

Ludvík Nedochal

tanečník

Petr Novák (2)

tanečník

Miroslav Nožina

tanečník

Radka Odrážková

tanečnice

Luboš Ogoun

tanečník

Daniela Oplatková

tanečnice

Eva Pakrová

tanečnice

Miroslav Plcha

tanečník

Milan Podzuban

tanečník

Bohuslav Polák

tanečník

Simona Polcarová

tanečnice

Martina Pospíšilová

tanečnice

Milan Potůček

tanečník

Petr Přibyl

tanečník

Ivan Příkaský

tanečník

Bronislav Roznos

tanečník

Radim Salay

tanečník

Milan Skrčený

tanečník

Jana Somrová

tanečnice

Jiří Sosík

tanečnice

Martin Souček

tanečník

Eva Stárková

tanečnice

Jiří Střebický

tanečník

Miroslava Suchánková

tanečnice

Jiří Sysel

tanečník

Renata Šáchová

tanečnice

Jana Šimečková

tanečnice

Jana Škopová

tanečnice

Cyril Štampach

tanečník

Petr Štefan

tanečník

Hana Šťouračová

tanečnice

Alena Tesařová

tanečnice

Eva Trnková (2)

tanečnice

Ladislav Urbančík

tanečník

Jan Valášek (2)

tanečník

Pavel Venyš

tanečník

Jitka Vidláková

tanečnice

Jiří Vrba

tanečník

Ilona Zajacová

tanečnice

Zdeněk Zeman

tanečník

Dagmar Zemanová

tanečnice

Jaroslav Zázvorka

šermíř

Crew and creators

Second Unit Director

Milan Kadlec

Assistant Director

Petr Šícha, Milan Špinka

Continuity

Eva Kubesová

Based on

František Hrubín (Oldřich a Božena – divadelní hra)

Shooting Script

Otakar Vávra

Director of Photography

Jiří Macák

Second Unit Photography

Jan Hanzal

Camera Operator

František Kučera

Production Designer

Jindřich Goetz

Assistent Production Designer

Olga Rosenfelderová, František Vokřál

Set Designer

Jiří Matějka, Eva Slívová, Milan Tahotný

Costume Designer

Jan Kropáček

Film Editor

Miroslav Hájek

Assistant Film Editor

Magda Hájková

Sound Designer

Adolf Böhm

Production Manager

Jan Syrový

Unit Production Manager

Helena Landovská, Věra Lukášová, Lev Veltrubský

Consultant

Jiří Sláma, Pavel Auersperg

Cooperation

Ivana Vlčková (klapka), Karel Ješátko (fotograf)

Music

Music Composed by

Otmar Mácha

Music Performed by

FISYO (Music Conducted by Mario Klemens)

Choreographer

Luboš Ogoun

Songs

Lado, slyš nás, Lado

Singer ženský sbor

Víno piju sám

Singer Jiří Bartoška

Production info

Original Title

Oldřich a Božena

Czech Title

Oldřich a Božena

English Title

Oldřich and Božena

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

drama, historical

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1984

Production Year

1984

Production specifications

literary Screenplay approved 16 November 1983
start of filming 16 April 1984
technical Screenplay approved 24 April 1984
end of filming 22 December 1984
projection approval 28 December 1984

Premiere

premiere 1 August 1985 /unsuitable for youths/

Studio

Barrandov

Creative Group

2. dramaturgicko-výrobní skupina, Josef Císař (vedoucí 2. dramaturgicko-výrobní skupiny)

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

84 min

Original length in metres

2 390 meters

Distribution carrier

16mm, 35mm

Aspect ratio

1:1,37

Colour

colour

Sound

sound

Sound system/format

mono

Versions

Czech

Dialogue languages

Czech

Subtitles languages

without subtitles

Opening/End credits languages

Czech

Awards

Vítěz

Festival: 23. festival českých a slovenských filmů Praha

1985
Praha / Czechoslovakia
Jana Šulcová

Vítěz

Festival: 36. filmový festival pracujících – léto ´85

1985
70 měst / Czechoslovakia
Otakar Vávra

Vítěz

Festival: 36. filmový festival pracujících – léto ´85

1985
70 měst / Czechoslovakia
Jiří Bartoška

Vítěz

Festival: 23. festival českých a slovenských filmů Praha

1985
Praha / Czechoslovakia
Otakar Vávra

Vítěz

Festival: 23. festival českých a slovenských filmů Praha

1985
Praha / Czechoslovakia
Otmar Mácha