The Face behind the Glass

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1979

Production year

1978—1979

Premiere

23 November 1979

Runtime

85 min

Director

Hynek Bočan

Category

film

Genre

drama

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Tvář za sklem

Czech title

Tvář za sklem

English title

The Face behind the Glass

Working title

Jedno okno ještě svítí

Summary

Director Hynek Bočan and Moravian writer Jan Kostrhun first teamed up in 1979 while making an adaptation of the novella Černé ovce (Black Sheep). They went on to create feature films such as Pytláci (Poachers, 1981) and Vinobraní (The Grape Harvest, 1982). Their motion picture Tvář za sklem (The Face behind the Glass) saw the return of Bočan to filmmaking –after his political opinions caused him to fall into disfavour at Prague’s Barrandov film studios, he suffered a ban. Using the format of a family drama, he was permitted to touch on a taboo theme of the 1950s, which the film industry commissioners – viewing things through the lens of the period of “normalisation” – addressed with ideologically distorted points of view. The dignified hero of Tvář za sklem is a father, Tůma (Miroslav Macháček), who opposed “collectivisation” and ended up in jail after murdering a communist agitator. Tůma´s son (Jaromír Hanzlík) – now the chairman of an agricultural collective – tries to build a relationship with his alienated father. And he will succeed, largely because this explosively dramatic story was obliged to have an optimistic outcome.

Synopsis

Petr Tůma is a young manager of a cooperative farm in a Moravian village. He is married and has two children. For many years he has not made a contact with his father, who in the 1950s opposed the enforced collectivization of farms in Moravian villages. At that time, the promoter of collectivization was shot and Tůma was accused and later also sentenced to many years in prison. His son Petr was brought up by his ill mother and her friend Kadlec. After serving his sentence, Tůma, the father, accepts a job of a coachman in his native village. Petr wants to make peace with his father and move his whole family to live with him. Petr's wife, Anděla, however, refuses the plan. She does not want to leave, although it would only mean to move to the next village. Petr's first visit of his father does not go too well. Tůma, the father, comes to meet his son's family at the station, but does not recognize Petr. Tůma gets hurt during forest work and thanks to Petr, he receives proper medical treatment. Petr stays with his father for the night, but does not tell him that his wife and children do not want to move. The next day, Tůma, the father, takes his coach and goes to pick up his daughter in law and grandchildren. Anděla refuses him, but the father in law stays and waits in front of the house overnight. In the end, the young woman decides to follow her husband and the young teacher, who was pursuing Anděla, stays on his own.

Cast

Jaromír Hanzlík

předseda JZD Ing. Petr Tůma

Miroslav Macháček

kočí Tůma, Petrův otec

Josef Bláha

předseda JZD Václav Kadlec

Jaroslava Obermaierová

knihovnice Anděla, Petrova manželka

Jana Hlaváčová

Tůmová, Petrova matka

Karel Augusta

krmič Riška

Jan Kanyza

Hlinka, milenec Karličky

Petr Malát

Petr Tůma jako dítě

Oldřich Velen

agitátor z města

Eliška Sirová

Lenka, dcera Petra a Anděly

Martin Maucha

Jeník, syn Petra a Anděly

Karel Velebil

Karlík, syn Karličky

Kateřina Vlková

mladá účetní

Mojmír Heger

příslušník SNB

Josef Husník

příslušník SNB

Zdeněk Maryška

příslušník SNB

Vladimír Tišer

účetní

Jindřich Hrdý

mladík z hloučku

Rudolf A. Rosenfelder

řidič tahače

Karel Staněk

zootechnik

Vladimír Staněk (2)

voják

Ludmila Šafářová

dívka z hloučku

Petr Hudeček

hudebník

Josef Koliba

hudebník

Antonín Patočka

hudebník

Josef Patočka (2)

hudebník

Pavel Skopal

hudebník

Crew and creators

Director

Hynek Bočan

Second Unit Director

Květa Lehovcová

Assistant Director

Petr Makovička

Based on

Jan Kostrhun (Černé ovce – román)

Screenplay

Václav Šašek

Shooting Script

Hynek Bočan

Director of Photography

František Uldrich

Second Unit Photography

Vladimír Smutný

Camera Operator

Jiří Pechar

Production Designer

Jan Oliva

Assistent Production Designer

František Vokřál

Set Designer

Jiří Žák, P. Hořejší, Ladislav Winkelhöfer

Costume Designer

Svatava Sophová

Film Editor

Zdeněk Stehlík

Assistant Film Editor

Erika Vojáčková

Sound Designer

Alexandr Vrbata

Production Manager

Jiří Zika

Unit Production Manager

Karel Prchal, Vladimír Tišer

Unit Production Manager

Václav Veruněk

Cooperation

Hana Hebrová (klapka), Miroslav Pešan (fotograf)

Music

Music Composed by

Ladislav Štaidl

Music Performed by

Orchestr Ladislava Štaidla (Music Conducted by Milivoj Uzelac), Cimbálová muzika Zavádka Čejkovice

Production info

Original Title

Tvář za sklem

Czech Title

Tvář za sklem

English Title

The Face behind the Glass

Working Title

Jedno okno ještě svítí

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

drama

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1979

Production Year

1978—1979

Production specifications

literary Screenplay approved 29 March 1978
start of filming 9 August 1978
technical Screenplay approved 5 September 1978
end of filming 28 February 1979
projection approval 7 March 1979
withdrawal from distribution 31 December 1986

Premiere

premiere 23 November 1979 /unsuitable for youths/

Studio

Barrandov

Creative Group

Dramaturgická skupina Vladimíra Kaliny, Vladimír Kalina (vedoucí dramaturgické skupiny)

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

85 min

Original length in metres

2 453 meters

Distribution carrier

16mm, 35mm

Aspect ratio

1:1,66

Colour

colour

Sound

sound

Sound system/format

mono

Versions

Czech

Dialogue languages

Czech

Subtitles languages

without subtitles

Opening/End credits languages

Czech

Awards

Vítěz

Festival: 17. filmový festival mladých Trutnov

1979
Trutnov / Czechoslovakia
Václav Šašek