Desire Named Anada

Country

Czechoslovakia, United States of America

Copyright

1969

Production year

1968—1969

Premiere

12 February 1971

Runtime

116 min

Category

film

Genre

ballad

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Touha zvaná Anada

Czech title

Touha zvaná Anada

English title

Desire Named Anada

Co-production title

Adrift (Desire Called Anada)

Working title

Něco nese voda / Hrst plná vody

Summary

After the Oscar-winning Obchod na korze (The Shop on Main Street, 1965), directors Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos made only one more film together, a poetic romance set in the Slovak-Hungarian borderlands in the 1920s. Touha zvaná Anada (Desire Named Anada, 1971) was a Czech-American coproduction that presaged Ján Kadár’s emigration to the USA. The story, inspired by a novella by the Hungarian writer Imre Gyöngyössy, takes place in an attractive and intimate setting on the banks of the River Danube. One day, the river washes up a half-drowned girl who is taken into the care of the fisherman Jánoš Gabay and his spouse Zuzka. Soon Jánoš begins to fall in love with the mysterious stranger… An enigmatic drama of cause and effect, the film combines a poetic narrative about a love triangle with a morality tale about passion and responsibility. Yugoslavians Rade Markovič (Jánoš) and Milena Dravić (Zuzka) played the leading pair alongside American actress Paula Pritchett as Anada.

Synopsis

Fisherman Jánoš comes home with a medicine that he bought at the pharmacist in the town and which will possibly save his severely ill wife Zuzka. He dissolves several pills in water but the woman is not supposed to drink the medicine later than seven o'clock. Zuzka's old father, disturbed, announces to Jánoš that Anada left the house to drown herself. Jánoš runs to the river, earnestly calling out and trying to find the girl, but all in vain. On the riverbank, he meets three men who start questioning him. Jánoš begins to recall the past events when he with his father-in-law and his son Petr fished out a mysterious beautiful girl named Anada from the river and resuscitated her with the help of Zuzka. The girl remained with the family on the request of Jánoš's beloved wife, who often felt lonely. Jánoš, however, began to lust for the beautiful visitor and pressed her to leave. Although he tried to find out something about her past, all his efforts failed. Following the night when Anada became Jánoš's lover, Zuzka fell ill with typhoid. Jánoš, unable to solve his situation, hoped that her death would decide everything for him. The pharmacist, however, warned him to give Zuzka only one pill; in larger amounts, the medicine turns into deadly poison. When Jánoš learns from the men on the bank that Anada is dead, he recalls Zuzka and the dangerous medicine. He begins to run home, but the harder he runs, the more distant is his destination.

Cast

Rade Marković

Voice by Július Vašek
rybář Jánoš Gabay

Milena Dravić

Voice by Zdena Grúberová
Zuzka, Gabayova žena

Paula Pritchett

Voice by Elena Pappová-Zvaríková
Anada

Iván Darvas

Voice by Ladislav Chudík
zámecký pán Krištof Káldy

Jaroslav Marvan

Voice by Ondrej Jariabek
Michal Bóci, Zuzčin otec

Jozef Kroner

Koktavý

Gustáv Valach

Kormidelník

Ján Boldiš

Petr, syn Gabayových

Rudolf Velický

lékárník

Jozef Cút

železničář

Milada Eckertová

tanečnice

Beatrix Špergerová

tanečnice

Zdena Nererová

tanečnice

Libuše Mayerová

tanečnice

Mária Martinčičová

tanečnice

Mária Janková

tanečnice

Katarína Hajtášová

tanečnice

Valeria Farkašová

tanečnice

Viktoria Brezováková

tanečnice

Katarína Csütörtökyová

tanečnice

Dana Teslíková

tanečnice

Alžbeta Dráfyová

tanečnice

Ľuba Desetová

tanečnice

Dana Mayerová

tanečnice

Beatrix Nagyová

tanečnice

Natalia Tomanová

tanečnice

Mária Hajtášová

tanečnice

Ľudovít Kroner

dubl za Jozeaf Kronera

Crew and creators

Second Unit Director

Elmar Kloss

Assistant Director

Zdeňka Slunéčková

Based on

Lájos Zilahy (Něco nese voda – román)

Shooting Script

Ján Kadár, Elmar Klos

Director of Photography

Vladimír Novotný

Second Unit Photography

Antonín Holub

Camera Operator

Bohumír Schwarzer

Production Designer

Karel Škvor

Assistent Production Designer

Jan Kňákal, Oľga Maiová

Set Designer

Rudolf Herz, Bedřich Čermák, František Straka

Costume Designer

Zuzana Bočeková

Assistant Film Editor

Milada Malínská, Eva Vávrová

Sound Designer

František Černý

Special Effects

Trikový ateliér FSB

Production Manager

Ladislav Hanuš, Julius Potocsny

Unit Production Manager

Jiří Holeček, Radomír Hubáček

Unit Production Manager

Anna Proboštová, Jitka Přibylová

Consultant

Ing. Vojtěch Géczö , Jozef Kvočák, Gizela Mačugová, Petr Kronauer

Cooperation

Jana Smrčinová (klapka), Zdeněk Dukát (fotograf)

Music

Music Composed by

Zdeněk Liška

Music Performed by

FISYO (Music Conducted by František Belfín)

Songs

Duj, duj, duj

Singer Gustáv Valach

Production info

Original Title

Touha zvaná Anada

Czech Title

Touha zvaná Anada

English Title

Desire Named Anada

Co-production Title

Adrift (Desire Called Anada)

Working Title

Něco nese voda / Hrst plná vody

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

ballad

Origin country

Czechoslovakia, United States of America

Copyright

1969

Production Year

1968—1969

Production specifications

literary Screenplay approved 1 May 1968
technical Screenplay approved 15 May 1968
start of filming 29 July 1968
end of filming 26 September 1968
technical Screenplay approved 1 February 1969 (dokončení)
start of filming 4 April 1969 (dokončení)
end of filming 24 September 1969 (dokončení)
the first film copy approved 22 December 1969
projection approval 1 September 1970
withdrawal from distribution 30 June 1971

Premiere

premiere 12 February 1971 /unsuitable for youths/ (celostátní)
premiere 25 March 1971 /unsuitable for youths/ (kino Paříž, Praha)

Creative Group

Tvůrčí skupina Feix – Brož, Miloš Brož (vedoucí dramaturg tvůrčí skupiny a vedoucí dramaturgické skupiny), Karel Feix (vedoucí výroby tvůrčí skupiny), Dramaturgická skupina Miloše Brože (dokončení), Výrobní skupina Bohumila Šmídy (dokončení), Bohumil Šmída (vedoucí výrobní skupiny)

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

116 min

Original length in metres

3 290 meters

Distribution carrier

16mm, 35mm

Aspect ratio

1:1,66

Colour

colour

Sound

sound

Sound system/format

mono

Versions

Czech

Dialogue languages

Slovak

Subtitles languages

without subtitles

Opening/End credits languages

Czech