Surrendering to political pressure in the 1970s, the fiction writer Vladimír Páral abandoned the critical standpoints that featured so strongly in his earlier works. He thus launched his “White Pentalogy” with the novel Mladý muž a bílá velryba (The Young Man and the White Whale, 1973), a work that was transformed into an eponymous film five years later with experienced director Jaromil Jireš behind the camera. The narrative takes place in a chemical plant in Ústí nad Labem where a pretty and manipulative chemical engineer Edita Beningerová secures a job. She has taken the position in order to verify her theories by putting them into practice with the assistance of her ex-husband and chemistry scientist Viktor Panc. Viktor’s young housemate, shift foreman Břeťa Laboutka, falls under the woman’s spell with fateful consequences. The film also lends a prominent role to the symbolic story of the white whale. This amplifies Břeťa’s yearning for a big life achievement. Jireš and his team produced a film that stood head and shoulders above the period’s average fare. It showcased stars such as Jana Brejchová, Eduard Cupák and Ivan Vyskočil.
Good-looking Edita Beningerová arrives at a chemical factory in the North Bohemian town of Ústí nad Labem together with her young assistant Naďa. She is hoping that her ex-husband, outstanding practical chemical engineer Vik Panc, will help her conduct an experiment to validate her proposed theoretical method of isolating cholesterol from lanolin. The success of Edita's invention is crucial for her career at the Prague Institute of Chemistry. Vik's room mate from his hostel Břeťa is thrilled. He will finally meet the mysterious and fascinating Edita about whom he has learned so much from Vik. The nurse Miluška whom Břeťa is dating is nice but boringly ordinary in his eyes, since he has a vivid imagination and a permanent longing for adventure. Břeťa is encouraged by the old boatman Gauss, a former whaler, who says that great deals in life are like the hunt for the rare white whale. The cold and somewhat arrogant Edita takes little notice of Břeťa but nearly pays dearly for her arrogance. With Naďa's help, she finally persuades Vik to conduct a successful experiment but she still needs to test everything in production and only the foreman Břeťa can force the workers to extend their shifts to do evenings and weekends. The offended young man softens only after Edita really begins to take notice of him. Břeťa is in love with Edita, his emotion wins her over and she falls in love for the first time in her life. A powerful solvent is needed for the chemical reaction. All alone in the old, poorly ventilated factory hall, Břeťa uses the cheap but highly poisonous chlorex. The experiment succeeds but Břeťa dies, face to face with his while whale.
chemik Viktor Panc zvaný Vik
směnový mistr Břeťa Laboutka
Ing. Edita Beningerová
Naďa Frýbortová, Editina asistentka
převozník Gauss
Miluška
ředitel Bartík
Petr Líbal, Břeťův nadřízený
Udo Vízner
Voice by Jan Kanyza
dělník Ládin
dělník Dobřichovický
dělnice Hanka
těhotná dělnice Brigita
sekretářka Šprinclová
matka Břeti
otec Břeti
vrátný
číšník
chemik
chemik
chemik
chemik
Vladimír Páral (Mladý muž a bílá velryba – román)
Zdeněk Jeřábek, Rudolf Kinský, Miroslav Stibr, Viktor Gajdoš
Zdena Šnajdarová (vedoucí kostymérka), A. Pavlíková, Eva Vrbovcová
Jana Koubová, Ladislav Beneš
Ing. Milan Bareš, CSc., Alois Dočkal, Ing. Augustin Hrdina
Barbora Brožková (klapka), Otta Pšenička (vrchní osvětlovač), Jan Kuděla (fotograf), Spolek pro chemickou a hutní výrobu Ústí nad Labem, Kaučuk Kralupy n. p., Alena Rybová
Orchestr Ladislava Štaidla (Music Conducted by Ladislav Štaidl), FISYO (Music Conducted by Milivoj Uzelac)
Mladý muž a bílá velryba
Mladý muž a bílá velryba
The Young Man and the White Whale
film
featuretheatrical distribution
drama
Czechoslovakia
1978
1978
literary Screenplay approved 15 March 1978
start of filming 25 April 1978
technical Screenplay approved 30 May 1978
end of filming 23 November 1978
projection approval 29 November 1978
withdrawal from distribution 31 December 1991
premiere 13 July 1979 /unsuitable for youths/
Dramaturgická skupina Miroslava Hladkého, Miroslav Hladký (vedoucí dramaturgické skupiny)
feature film
88 min
2 512 meters
16mm, 35mm
1:1,66
colour
sound
mono
Czech
Czech
without subtitles
Czech
Festival: 18. mezinárodní filmový festival Panama
1981
Panama / Panama
Festival: 11. mezinárodní filmový festival Moskva
1979
Moskva / Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Festival: 17. filmový festival mladých Trutnov
1979
Trutnov / Czechoslovakia
Ivan Vyskočil
Festival: 17. festival českých a slovenských filmů Hradec Králové
1979
Hradec Králové / Czechoslovakia
Festival: 30. filmový festival pracujících – léto ´79
1979
62 měst / Czechoslovakia
Jana Brejchová
Festival: 30. filmový festival pracujících – léto ´79
1979
62 měst / Czechoslovakia
Jaromil Jireš