Carl Junghans's film captures the tragic story of an aging laundress whose drudgery and toil support a licentious and abusive alcoholic husband. A psychological drama with social themes, it draws from Zola’s novel, The Kill, and with full cinematic expression, a progressive approach to montage and emphasis on the symbolic power of close-ups, represents the climax of silent film. Despite the birth of the “talkie” in the late 1920s, the film, influenced by a wave of social realism in European cinematography, was shot as a silent motion-picture, adversely effecting its financial success. Although its premiere in Czech theaters went almost unnoticed, it is recognized as a world class film from the peak of the era of silent film and, as such, was acknowledged by film historians in Brussels in 1958. For its re-lease in 1959, preserved film materials were reassembled by Elmar Klos, while original music, “tailored” to the production, was composed by Zdeněk Liška. An uncertain stretch of time in the gray life of a drunk laborer, his weary wife and their unhappy daughter, imprisoned by the director in the bleak surroundings of an imaginary city composed of cleverly chosen locations in Prague. Yet little attention was paid to the exterior unity of the sites. His Russian-style montage editing, based more upon associations of contiguous visual perceptions than on detailed logicality of approach, allow him to create any atmosphere he wishes without disturbing the lack of schematic clarity and coherence in both location and plot, a break from the custom so familiar in American films. [ah. (1930): Takový je život, Studio 2, no. 5 pg. 158]
The heroine of the film is a proletarian wife and mother. Her husband, a coalminer, seeks solace in alcohol and neglects his work. After he is sacked, he spends most of his time in the pub with his friends and his lover, a waitress. He wastes the money his wife earns as a washerwoman. The woman, with her work and her worries, doesn't even remember it is her birthday but her neighbours come to visit her to wish her happy birthday. Even this happy day ends in sadness: her husband comes home drunk. When he starts destroying their meagre furniture in a fit of rage, she throws him out. The man moves in with his lover. One day the wife badly scalds herself while washing some linen and after a few days she dies. The man comes home and prepares her a simple funeral which is attended by all the neighbours. After the funeral the husband holds a wake in the local inn. Then they all return to their homes as if nothing had happened. Such is life.
The film was addapted in 1959 by director Elmar Klos who also added the sound track to the film. The music was composed by Zdeněk Liška (K-A 1823,8 m).
pradlena
uhlíř, pradlenin manžel
manikýrka, pradlenina a uhlířova dcera
nápadník uhlířovy dcery
krejčí
žena krejčího
pianista ve výčepu
číšnice
sousedka, pradlenina přítelkyně
výplatčí
dcerka krejčího
majitel uhlířského závodu
zákazník u manikúry
zákazník u manikúry
ředitel salonu krásy
zákaznice u manikúry
majitel salonu krásy
hospodský
animírka
plynař
lékař
kněz
tlustý muž ve výčepu
zaměstnavatelka pradleny
uhlíř
sousedka
host ve výčepu
host ve výčepu
host ve výčepu
host ve výčepu
host ve výčepu
zřízenec pohřebního ústavu
Elmar Klos (úprava a ozvučení 1959)
Zdeněk Liška (ozvučení 1959), Jan Burian ml. (ozvučení 2016)
Takový je život
Takový je život
Such Is Life
Román pražské pradleny
The Story of a Prague Washerwoman
Pradlena
film
featuretheatrical distribution
drama, social
Czechoslovakia
1929
1929
date of censorship 16 April 1930 (neschváleno do distribuce)
date of censorship 7 June 1930
projection approval 25 November 1957
premiere 9 May 1930 /unsuitable for youths/ (kina Flora /1 týden/, Koruna /1 týden/ a Roxy /1 týden/, Praha)
renewed premiere 11 September 1959 /unsuitable for youths/
renewed premiere 20 October 2016 /suitable for all ages without limit/
no caption (1959) / Digitally restored film #backincinemas. (2016)
Starfilm (původní 1930), Ústřední půjčovna filmů (obnovená 1959), Národní filmový archiv (obnovená 2016)
feature film
75 min
2 200 meters
35mm, DCP 2-D, BRD
1:1,37, 1:1,33
black & white
silent
Czech
without dialogue
without subtitles
Czech
Czech
<b>Carl Junghans is known mainly for the “swan song of silent film”, </b><b>Takový je život (Such is Life)</b><b>, which...