Stage and film actor, screenwriter, songwriter and novelist Jiří Suchý has been involved in a number of film productions during his career, but the tragicomedy Nevěsta (1970) is the only film he wrote and directed. As an auteur’s film, completed shortly before the onset of the “normalisation” period, it tells the story of a naïve young girl, Zdena (Marta Vančurová in one of her first roles), who decides to fulfill a prophecy of an amateur palmist (Eugen Jegorov) and find a husband. On her “quest”, she passes through various places and meets several men (Jaromír Hanzlík, Josef Dvořák, Jiří Novotný, and others), but none of them are Mr. Right… This surrealist, poetic and playful film is demonstrates Suchý’s multiple talents, but it has largely remained unnoticed by the mainstream audience.
The female employees of the poultry-processing factory find relief from their monotonous work in chatting about weddings and marriages. The very young Zdena, too, dreams about a white veil and an entourage of bridesmaids. On her return home from work, she runs into a peculiar man on an abandoned road who pertinaciously offers to read her palm for a few crowns to buy soup. His augury is rather usual – wealth and poverty, suffering and happiness. Then however, he declares that Zdena must marry exactly on 3 November of that year otherwise she will be unhappy. The girl mocks his words. The weird man then tells her that she is going to be attacked soon. He fulfils the prophecy himself by cutting through the little forest, knocking the girl to the ground and stealing her purse. The naive Zdena does not recognize him and begins to trust the augury, which has began to be fulfilled. She leaves home and tries to find a groom in the town. The writer Ondřej scares her away with his unrestrained fantasizing. Zdena accidentally gets into a modern villa where she becomes fond of handsome Ivan, but this relationship does not end well, either. Zdena works in a hotel as a chambermaid and publishes an ad in the Lonely Hearts column. She mistakenly addresses likeable Jan, but then has a date with the right person interested, Jiří. Jiří turns to be abnormal and Jana runs away from him to Jan. But she leaves him, too, since he cannot marry her in the given term. Later, Zdena again meets the weird stranger, who apologizes for the made-up augury. The girl still experiences her great wedding in a dream. In reality, however, she is sitting on a park bench, lonesome and pregnant.
Zdena
herečka Marta Weisová
Ondřej
Ivan Knešk
památkář Jan
sběratel panenek Jiří
chiromant
režisér Richard Klinger
Zdenin otec
Zdenina matka
Kateřina, Zdenina sestra
David, Zdenin bratr
pokojská Růžena
profesor Vinkler
výtvarník/herec
dekadentní mladík
holčička
vousatý filozofující student
Peggy
Charles Chaplin
mistr v továrně Voráček
příslušník SNB
příslušník SNB
Věra
reportér při ukřižování
dělnice Helena
kluk s pistolí
matka kluka s pistolí
řezník
Bečvářová
intelektuál
Volfová
nápadník Kateřiny
květinářka
muž z lidu
muž z lidu
muž z lidu
muž z lidu
sousedka/hysterická žena
artista
artista
sousedka
výtvarník
filozof
vědec
vědec
vědec
vědec
vědec
vědec
klavírista
hudebník
hudebník
hudebník
hudebník
hudebník-bubeník
Jana
mladík na večírku
turistka/páže
vědec
lékař kardiolog
dívka
dívka
Olga
tanečnice
tanečnice
tanečnice
tanečnice
tanečnice
Zdena Pavlátová
Rudolf Beneš, Václav Kozel, Vladimír Mácha
Karel Škop, Jaroslav Koucký
Jana Smrčinová (klapka), Miroslav Pešan (fotograf)
FISYO (Music Conducted by Milivoj Uzelac), Orchestr divadla Semafor (Music Conducted by Ferdinand Havlík)
Song Composer Jiří Šlitr
Writer of Lyrics Jiří Suchý
Singer Jiří Suchý
Song Composer Jiří Šlitr
Writer of Lyrics Jiří Suchý
Singer Jiří Suchý
Song Composer Ferdinand Havlík
Writer of Lyrics Jiří Suchý
Singer Jiří Suchý
Song Composer Jiří Šlitr
Writer of Lyrics Jiří Suchý
Singer sbor
Song Composer Jiří Šlitr
Writer of Lyrics Jiří Suchý
Singer Věra Křesadlová
Song Composer Jiří Šlitr
Writer of Lyrics Jiří Suchý
Singer Naďa UrbánkováJiří Suchý
Song Composer Ferdinand Havlík
Writer of Lyrics Jiří Suchý
Singer Jiří Suchý
Song Composer Jiří Šlitr
Writer of Lyrics Jiří Suchý
Singer Jiří Suchý
Song Composer Ferdinand Havlík
Writer of Lyrics Jiří Suchý
Singer Jiří Suchý
Song Composer Jiří Šlitr
Writer of Lyrics Jiří Suchý
Song Composer Ferdinand Havlík
Writer of Lyrics Jiří Suchý
Song Composer Jiří Šlitr
Writer of Lyrics Jiří Suchý
Nevěsta
Nevěsta
The Bride
film
featuretheatrical distribution
tragicomedy
Czechoslovakia
1970
1969—1970
literary Screenplay approved 29 April 1969
technical Screenplay approved 20 August 1969
start of filming 2 September 1969
end of filming 27 March 1970
projection approval 9 June 1970
premiere 24 September 1970 /unsuitable for youths/ (kina Paříž /3 týdny/ a Flora /1 týden/, Praha)
premiere 25 September 1970 /unsuitable for youths/ (celostátní /omezená distribuce/)
renewed premiere 15 January 2001 /suitable for all ages/
A sad comedy about a girl getting married. (1970) / Project 100 – 2001. (2001)
Ministerstvo kultury České republiky (obnovená distribuce 2001), Státní fond České republiky pro podporu a rozvoj české kinematografie (obnovená distribuce 2001)
Ústřední půjčovna filmů (původní 1970), Asociace českých filmových klubů (obnovená 2001 /Projekt 100 – 2001/)
Tvůrčí skupina Juráček – Kučera, Pavel Juráček (vedoucí dramaturg tvůrčí skupiny), Jaroslav Kučera (vedoucí výroby tvůrčí skupiny), Výrobní skupina Ericha Švabíka (dokončení), Erich Švabík (vedoucí výrobní skupiny)
feature film
92 min
2 611 meters
35mm
1:1,37
black & white
sound
mono
Czech
Czech
without subtitles
Czech
