Nothing Really Happened

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1988

Production year

1988

Premiere

1 April 1989

Runtime

86 min

Director

Evald Schorm

Category

film

Genre

psychological

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Vlastně se nic nestalo

Czech title

Vlastně se nic nestalo

English title

Nothing Really Happened

Working title

Mlha / Láska na škodu / Matka a dcera / Když je mlha, mizí stín

Summary

The last title in the filmography of director Evald Schorm (1931–1988) is psychological drama Vlastně se nic nestalo (Nothing Really Happened, 1988). Schorm, among the most important filmmakers of the Czechoslovak New Wave, had experienced a 17-year-long break from directing – and his previous film was a short, Psi a lidé (Dogs and People, 1971). Schorm died in December 1988, a day before his birthday. He did not live to see the premiere of Nothing Really Happened, which screened in April 1989, nor the political transition he had so longed for. In the 1970s and 1980s, the filmmaker was banned from working in film and television. And not even in Nothing Really Happened, a dramatic film inspired by Jaroslava Moserová’s novel and screenplay, was Schorm allowed to freely express his opinions on the state of society. So the story of a relationship between a mother and daughter is restricted to more intimate, interpersonal themes. It is resigned to addressing the more general society that formed both heroines: the widowed book editor Blanka Halerová and Šárka, her 20-year-old daughter. Blanka cannot overcome the fact that she once spilled boiling water on her baby daughter, leaving her with serious burns. She devotes herself to Šárka to the point of neglecting her son Vojta. Meanwhile, Šárka tries to live her own life, though her mother underestimates her and in doing so thwarts her efforts to find a boyfriend. Blanka in time discovers that her daughter has been studying in secret, is in a relationship and has friends… Although Nothing Really Happened falls short of Schorm’s previous work, it has an excellent cast. Jana Brejchová (Blanka) and Tereza Brodská (Šárka) – mother and daughter in real life – play the leading roles. The actresses had already been cast as such in the psychological drama Citlivá místa (Sensitive Spots), which Vladimír Dlouhý directed a year before Schorm made his final feature.

Synopsis

Blanka Halerová is an intelligent and charming woman and is very competent in her work as a publishing house editor. She, however, manages her private life much worse. A long time ago, she unfortunately stumbled and spilled boiling water on her little daughter Šárka. The girl is twenty now. Contrary to her mother, Šárka has long since been able to cope with the scars caused by the accident and is only troubled by her mother’s suffocating care. Šárka works as an assistant film editor and secretly studies at a university. It seems as if Blanka has no emotion and attention left for Šárka’s younger brother Vojta. Blanka is a widow and her boyfriend, an attorney called Otakar Nývlt, fortunately compensates for Vojta's lack of parental support. Blanka is repeatedly paralysed by the shock caused by the unhappy accident. Driving to their cottage in the Giant Mountains in an old car, she finds out that her daughter secretly got a driving licence and can easily substitute for her behind the wheel. The mother irritates her daughter by pressing her to cover the scars on her neck with hair and Šárka thus intentionally combs it up. Otakar divorced a long time ago and has no children. When his very old mother dies, he suggests Blanka to move in with him with the son and leave her flat to Šárka. But the mother in her exaggerated care underestimates the daughter. She does not realize that Šárka is a witty, bright and popular woman; she only perceives her as a poor cripple who no one could really love – and she therefore thwarts all her love affairs. This is why the girl carefully conceals her affair with the mountain climber Franta who Blanka is helping with the preparation of his book. The mother only gradually and by accident learns about her daughter’s successful studies, love relationship as well as her friendly background and also about the fact that the girl can be happy without her. Although she bitterly bemoans it, it seems that she will finally be able to accept Šárka’s maturity and independence.

Film online

Cast

Jana Brejchová

redaktorka Blanka Halerová

Tereza Brodská

asistentka střihu Šárka, Blančina dcera

Jan Kačer

advokát Otakar Nývlt, Blančin přítel

Jan Potměšil

Vojta, Blančin syn

Marek Vašut

horolezec František Andrlík

Zdeněk Žák

redaktor Petr Koudelka

Jiří Pomeje

Aleš Merhaut

Vanda Švarcová

mladá redaktorka Květuška

Hana Čížková (2)

Karla, Koudelkova žena

Jiří Němeček

hlídač parkoviště

Václav Kotva

muž s ovázaným psem

Marek Eben

Vasil Neuman

Vlasta Mészárosová

Neumanova žena

Karel Bělohradský

Jarda Kvíčala

Lorna Vančurová

Kvíčalova žena

Hana Ševčíková

mladičká pacientka

Daniel Šedivák

mladík v garáži

Bohumil Vávra

starý lékař

Hana Militká

zdravotní sestra

Jindra Kvardová

stará žena

Eva Záběhlická

žena před obchodem

Anna Kreuzmannová

matka Nývlta

Jiří Cimický

předseda v nakladatelství

Libuše Tomková

dubl za Janu Brejchovou

Riana Vacková

dubl za Terezu Brodskou

Crew and creators

Director

Evald Schorm

Second Unit Director

Milena Kropáčková

Assistant Director

Petr Strejček

Director of Photography

Jiří Macák

Second Unit Photography

Jan Hanzal

Camera Operator

Vladimír Murat

Production Designer

Jiří Hlupý

Assistent Production Designer

Václav Hlávka

Set Designer

Lubomír Kafka, Michal Kraus, Josef Večerek, Miloslav Dvořák

Costume Designer

Svatava Sophová

Film Editor

Petr Sitár

Assistant Film Editor

Růžena Hejsková, Jana Šimonová

Sound Designer

Vladimír Skall

Production Manager

Karel Kochman

Unit Production Manager

Eliška Sekavová, Jarmila Tomišková

Unit Production Manager

Jan Záhumenský, Aleš Týbl

Cooperation

Jitka Bylinská (fotografka)

Music

Music Composed by

Jan Klusák

Music Performed by

FISYO (Music Conducted by Štěpán Koníček)

Songs

Co jsem měl dnes k obědu

Song Composer Jiří Šlitr
Writer of Lyrics Jiří Suchý
Singer Jiří Šlitr

Tatrman

Song Composer Michael Kocáb
Writer of Lyrics Michael Kocáb
Singer Pražský výběr

Dáša jedla cukroví

Song Composer Ivan Mládek
Writer of Lyrics Zdeněk Svěrák
Singer Ivan Mládek

Radegast

Song Composer Citron
Writer of Lyrics Citron
Singer Citron

Chtíc aby spal

Song Composer Adam Václav Michna z Otradovic
Writer of Lyrics Adam Václav Michna z Otradovic
Singer sbor

Production info

Original Title

Vlastně se nic nestalo

Czech Title

Vlastně se nic nestalo

English Title

Nothing Really Happened

Working Title

Mlha / Láska na škodu / Matka a dcera / Když je mlha, mizí stín

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

psychological

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1988

Production Year

1988

Production specifications

literary Screenplay approved 26 November 1986
technical Screenplay approved 16 December 1987
start of filming 26 January 1988
end of filming 18 May 1988
the first film copy approved 6 July 1988
projection approval 7 July 1988

Premiere

premiere 1 April 1989 /unsuitable for youths/

Creative Group

5. dramaturgicko-výrobní skupina, Miloslav Vydra (vedoucí 5. dramaturgicko-výrobní skupiny)

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

86 min

Original length in metres

2 446 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