Loving James

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1982

Production year

1981—1982

Premiere

10 December 1982

Runtime

97 min

Category

film

Genre

psychological

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Má láska s Jakubem

Czech title

Má láska s Jakubem

English title

Loving James

Working title

Masopust

Summary

Alongside regime-ordered political propaganda, director Václav Matějka also turned his attentions towards less contentious fare during the 1970s and early 80s. This film from 1982 tells the story of young teacher Petra Jánská (Zlata Adamovská), whose arrival at a small town school is driven by her desire to be closer to her boyfriend. While the idealistic teacher tries to help improve the education of her new pupils, her lover Jakub (Ivan Vyskočil) attempts to manage a tough situation afflicting his employment at a local paper mill. The small town environment is riddled with lies and machinations. Petra does her best to sift through all of this to help a pupil, Pavel. But the end result of her efforts is an unexpected tragedy. Matějka also served as screenwriter for Má láska s Jakubem (Loving James) and spiced up the tale with sequences featuring abstract “metaphorical” masked characters.

Synopsis

The Shrovetide festivity mingles with the experiences of the young teacher Petra. She has taken up the job of Czech teacher in a small town for the sake of her beloved Jakub who is the deputy director of the local paper-mill. Jakub hopes to be promoted to the position of the director Tomšovský who is leaving for Prague. The paper-mill built flats for its employees instead of a kindergarten. But as soon as the third shift is introduced, the employees have no place to put their children. Tomšovský blames Jakub for the situation and Jakub tolerates it for career reasons. Petra discovers a catastrophic lack of knowledge in her pupils and selflessly begins to make up for the defficiencies with them. But she does not meet any understanding from her older colleagues because she disturbs the well-established standstill. Petra is worried about one pupil, Pavel. The boy often runs away from both home and school and is under the influence of his brother Jirka who ended up oin a wheelchair after suffering a severe injury. Petra finds it difficult to uncover the core of the problem in the petit-bourgeois town where everybody knows each other and no one wants to talk about anything. Last year, the excellent student Jirka successfully passed the entrance exams to a grammar school but was not admitted due to too many applicants. His mother took a bottle of cognac and set off to visit Tomšovský - a member of the entrance commission - to ask him to intercede for her son. However, the father of the boys, who works as a foreman in the paper-mill, has been a big critic of the director, and Tošovský thus not only refuses to help but moreover makes public the reported attempt to bribe him. Jirka jumps out of the window in despair. Petra can't stomach Jakub's careerism and finishes with him. During a ball attended by the entire town, the young teacher takes the director aside and harshly reproaches him for getting even through children. Pavel overhears it by accident and comes to Petra to express his thanks. Before the ball is over, the director learns that his son, a talented hockey player who is the reason for his moving to Prague, has died in a car accident. Jakub tries to live with his ex-girlfriend Marie, but realizes that the only thing which unites them is loneliness, and he finds his disguised love - Petra - in the Shrovetide whirl.

Cast

Zlata Adamovská

učitelka Petra Jánská/maska cikánky

Ivan Vyskočil

náměstek Ing. Jakub Horec, Petřin přítel

Josef Vinklář

ředitel papírny Martin Tomšovský/maska rychtáře

Karolina Slunéčková

učitelka Věra Tomšovská, ředitelova manželka

Martin Růžek

ředitel školy Kuneš

Vlasta Žehrová

Máša, členka souboru Komenium

Jan Hrušínský

Jarda, Mášin ženich

Jan Hartl

Tomáš/maska žalobce

Nina Popelíková

učitelka Maruška Zemánková

Zdena Hadrbolcová

učitelka Jarmila Nováková

Jana Švandová

Ing. Marie Brožová/maska soudce

Ladislav Frej

učitel Václav Rys, zástupce ředitele

Jana Gýrová

učitelka Drahuna

Petr Pelzer

mistr v papírně Karel Horák

František Řehák

Horec, Jakubův otec

Jana Leichtová

Klára, členka souboru Komenium

Milan Riehs

Ing. Lhoták

Hana Pastejříková

Helena, Jakubova švagrová

Gustav Bubník

Ivan, syn Tomšovských

Ilona Svobodová

Eva, Ivanova přítelkyně

Petr Bosák

Pavel, Horákův syn

Tomáš Vacek

Jirka, Pavlův bratr

Věra Galatíková

Slávka Horáková, Pavlova a Jirkova matka

Jiří Kodeš

tělocvikář Pavla Bárta

Taťána Bártová

učitelka/maska žitný

Hana Brejchová

učitelka/maska ovesný

Naděžda Prchalová

učitelka/svatebčanka

Hana Nachtmanová

maska matky masopustu

Jitka Zelenohorská

zdravotní sestra Alena

Ferdinand Krůta

Mášin otec

Míla Myslíková

Mášina matka

Alena Konopíková

učitelka

Karel Urbánek

MUDr. Slezák

Bronislav Poloczek

Honza, Jakubův bratr

Karel Chromík

Hanuš, otec Věry Tomšovské

Zdeněk Hradilák

předseda CZV KSČ

Miroslav Rous

školní inspektor Jaroslav Pouznar

František Baťka

školník

Jaroslav Pešek

maska exekutora

Stanislava Coufalová

pacientka/maska šaška s flétnou

Václav Hold

cvalík Čenda

Iva Hüttnerová

úřednice MNV Tánská

Radomil Čech

maska muže s medvědem

Antonín Gondolán

maska dědka houslisty

Jan Doubrava

maska flašinetáře

Ondřej Gondolán

maska starého cikána

Jaroslava Gondolánová

maska cikánky s vějířem

Monika Gondolánová

maska staré cikánky

Soňa Gondolánová

maska trumpetisty

Marie Gondolánová

maska staré cikánky

Jana Hlaváčková

maska smrťáka se psem

Jan Hannich

maska žebráka

Roman Hemala

příslušník VB/svatebčan

Eva Horká

žákyně Maruška

Miloslav Homola

číšník

Mnislav Hofmann

svatebčan

Libuše Geprtová

matrikářka

Marcela Burdová

Maruška

Pavla Vojáčková

dívka

Václav Král

maska policajta/svatebčan

Jiří Kopta

kamarád

Daniel Rous

kamarád

Vratislav Marek

maska starce s kočárem

Eva Jeníčková

maska akrobatky

Libuše Matějová

vrchní sestra

Ivana Mervartová

maska nevěsty

Kateřina Růžičková

maska pozounista

Michal Cihla

šplhoun Vítek

Vladimír Pospíšil

mistr v továrně

Markéta Pastejříková

Honzova dcera

Martin Pastejřík

Honzův syn

Zdeněk Podhůrský

muž v nemocnici

Hana Mášová

maska bubeníka

Josef Přibyl

maska houslisty

René Netopilík

maska dědka s fajfkou

Petr Rychetský

maska harmonikáře

Hana Sudolská

maska klarinetisty

Lenka Štefková

maska smrťáka s kosou

Jiří Schmiedt

mladý chlapec

Ilona Šebitová

pihovatá Helča

Karel Texel

vytáhlý Karel

Jaroslav Tomsa

řidič náklaďáku

Karel Vaněk (3)

muž s maskou koně

Slávka Hamouzová

svatebčanka

Petr Šlechta

muzikant

Jakub Dvořák

žák

Tomáš Chadim

žák

členové Vysokoškolské taneční skupiny

Crew and creators

Second Unit Director

Vítězslav Kulle

Assistant Director

Roman Kopřivík

Continuity

Olga Hrčková

Screenstory

Václav Matějka

Shooting Script

Václav Matějka

Director of Photography

Viktor Růžička

Second Unit Photography

Oldřich Kovář

Camera Operator

Vojtěch Kuthan

Production Designer

Bohumil Pokorný

Assistent Production Designer

Olga Rosenfelderová

Set Designer

Miroslav Buberle, Jaroslav Chytrý, Karel Karas, Ladislav Winkelhöfer

Costume Designer

Jarmila Konečná, Katarína Kissoczyová (masopustní masky), Irena Marečková (masopustní masky)

Film Editor

Josef Valušiak

Assistant Film Editor

Jan Svoboda, Jana Šimonová

Sound Designer

Jiří Hora

Production Manager

Oldřich Mach

Unit Production Manager

Tomáš Baloun, Eva Charvátová, Iva Šetková

Unit Production Manager

Vojtěch Panáček

Cooperation

Zdeněk Dukát (fotograf), Miroslav Jirsa (fotograf), Vladimír Souček (fotograf)

Music

Music Composed by

Petr Hapka

Music Performed by

FISYO (Music Conducted by František Belfín)

Choreographer

Jan Hartmann

Songs

Bez názvu

Song Composer Petr Hapka
Writer of Lyrics Zdeněk Rytíř
Singer Jan Hartl [dab]Karel Zich

Mezi námi dvouma, láska nejstálejší

Singer Jan Hrušínský [dab]Vlasta Žehrová [dab]

Živijó, živijó

Singer sbor

Něco za cibuli, něco za křen

Singer sbor

Masopust přišel

Singer sbor

Production info

Original Title

Má láska s Jakubem

Czech Title

Má láska s Jakubem

English Title

Loving James

Working Title

Masopust

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

psychological

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1982

Production Year

1981—1982

Production specifications

literary Screenplay approved 25 March 1981
technical Screenplay approved 27 July 1981
start of filming 28 July 1981
end of filming 11 May 1982
projection approval 21 May 1982
withdrawal from distribution 31 December 1987

Premiere

premiere 10 December 1982 /unsuitable for youths/

Studio

Barrandov

Creative Group

Dramaturgická skupina Miroslava Hladkého, Miroslav Hladký (vedoucí dramaturgické skupiny), 5. dramaturgicko-výrobní skupina, Miloslav Vydra (vedoucí 5. dramaturgicko-výrobní skupiny)

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

97 min

Original length in metres

2 565 meters

Distribution carrier

16mm, 35mm

Aspect ratio

1:1,37

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: 21. festival českých a slovenských filmů Ostrava

1983
Ostrava / Czechoslovakia

Vítěz

Festival: 21. festival českých a slovenských filmů Ostrava

1983
Ostrava / Czechoslovakia
Petr Hapka

Vítěz

Festival: 21. festival českých a slovenských filmů Ostrava

1983
Ostrava / Czechoslovakia
Josef Vinklář