Imposters
Category
povídkaGenre
short-story, tragicomedyTypology
featuretheatrical distributionshortOriginal title
PodvodníciCzech title
PodvodníciEnglish title
Imposterspovídkový film
Pearls of the DeepSummary
The ten-minute short story about two old men, sharing memories in a hospital room about their younger years and work successes – one of them was an operetta singer, the other a journalist – belongs to the rawest stories of Pearls of the Deep. Jan Němec deals with the subject of a sunset of life without the lyrical or surrealistic elements that he is known for from his previous films, but with insight, present especially in the anecdotes that men tell each other. The final reveal expands the film's topic and helps to understand its title. The closer we are to our own death, the more we strive to make the lives more intresting than they really were.
Synopsis
Two old men are talking in a hospital room. The one who has been reduced to a bedridden patient recalls his past as a singer who performed and sang the main roles in famous light operas. The second patient still can walk a little, helped by a stick. He used to be a successful journalist. The singer keeps an album of his photographs in various roles under his pillow. In the hospital mortuary, an assistant goes through the things left behind by the two old men. They both ended their lives as lonely people, without family. The assistant reveals to the hospital hairdresser that both men made their pasts up. The singer was in fact only a member of the opera corps and the journalist contributed solely to the gardening column. The hairdresser, offended at the lies of the two men, claims that people are obliged to tell the truth under any circumstances. He then packs up his instruments and walks through the hospital corridor in a white cloak, pretending to be a doctor in front of a patient lying on the stretcher.
Photos
Cast
Miloš Čtrnáctý
pacient, bývalý operetní zpěvák
František Havel
pacient, bývalý novinář
Josef Hejl
holič
Jan Vašák
zřízenec
Jiří Reichl
mladík s frakturou
Bohumil Hrabal
muž před domem
Crew and creators
Director
Second Unit Director
Assistant Director
Zdenka Petřková
Continuity
Based on
Bohumil Hrabal (Podvodníci – povídka ze sbírky Perlička na dně)
Screenplay
Shooting Script
Dramaturg
Director of Photography
Second Unit Photography
Camera Operator
Jiří Štíbr, Vladimír Zajíc
Production Designer
Assistent Production Designer
Set Designer
František Zajíček, Jan Vrňata, Viktor Fixl
Costume Designer
Costumes
Make-Up Artist
Film Editor
Assistant Film Editor
Sound Designer
Assistant Sound Designer
Production Manager
Unit Production Manager
Ludmila Tikovská, Luděk Marold, Věra Winkelhöferová
Unit Production Manager
Cooperation
Růžena Nováková (klapka)
Music
Music Composed by
Selected Music
Johann Strauss ml. (Cikánský baron – opereta)
Songs
Vím, proč život mám rád
Song Composer Johann Strauss ml.
Singer mužský hlassbor
Production info
Original Title
Podvodníci
Czech Title
Podvodníci
English Title
Imposters
Category
povídka
Typology
featuretheatrical distribution
Genre
short-story, tragicomedy
Origin country
Czechoslovakia
Copyright
1965
Production Year
1964
Copyright Holders
Studio
Technical info
Duration typology
short film
Duration in minutes
11 min
Original length in metres
310 meters
Distribution carrier
16mm, 35mm, DCP 2-D, BRD
Aspect ratio
1:1,37
Colour
colour, black & white
Sound
sound
Sound system/format
mono
Versions
Czech
Dialogue languages
Czech
Subtitles languages
without subtitles
Opening/End credits languages
Czech
