The Last Binge

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1982

Production year

1982

Premiere

1 January 1984

Runtime

70 min

Category

film

Genre

psychological

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionstudent filmlong

Original title

Poslední mejdan

Czech title

Poslední mejdan

English title

The Last Binge

Working title

Staccato v dechu [literární scénář]

Summary

Around 1989, writer-director Miloš Zábranský presented himself as maker of “spiritual” films containing a social-critical subtext (Dům pro dva [House for Two, 1987], Masseba, 1989, Stavení [Home, 1990]). But his debut film is not a parable, it is rather a morality play. Poslední mejdan (The Last Binge, 1984) tells the story of two female nursing school students, each with very different personalities and moral standards. Kristýna is sensitive and conscientious; Alena is a superficial manipulator. While sharing a room at a hall of residence, Kristýna gradually detects worrying shortcomings among her suitors, and increasingly fancies the good-hearted Pepík. Alena, meanwhile, gets herself pregnant with Yugoslavian man Bora, and tries to get him to march down the aisle... Tereza Pokorná (Kristýna) and Světlana Nálepková (Alena) take the lead roles in this sensitive story of mid-1980s female adolescence.

Synopsis

Kristýna and Alena, students at a medical secondary school, are friends and roommates in the nurses' home. They also go disco dancing together. One time at a disco, the tantalizing Alena, who in no way suffers from a lack of admirers, meets a Yugoslav student called Bora. The sensitive and somewhat shy Kristýna has a few wooers around, too: the self-confident Richard, and Pepík who did not get into university and works in the purchase of returnable bottles. Also, her former schoolmate Milan from a small town where the girl frequently goes to visit her parents considers her to be his girlfriend. Kristýna tries to honestly fulfill all her duties ensuing from her hospital training. She nevertheless often runs into conflicts, mainly with doctor Hartl. Alena gets pregnant by Bora and prepares for a wedding, even though the young man does not want to marry her. Alena threatens him with a scandal at his embassy. Kristýna increasingly prefers Pepík. She was initially impressed by Richard but she saw him deftly robbing a wallet packed with foreign exchange from a tourist. She later finds out that Robert is an underhand moneychanger dealing in Tuzex vouchers [Tuzex = sales system and shops that used convertible-currency vouchers in Communist Czechoslovakia]. As far as Milan is concerned, Kristýna is repelled by his vulgar gang of friends. In the hospital, Kristýna has problems with the old Koudelka, who has twice disconnected himself from his drip. In the first case, Kristýna was unjustly blamed for it, and in the second case it happened when she let herself be convinced to drop in for a celebration of the hospital nurses for a while. At a public meeting, she is labeled the "black sheep" of the school. But Kristýna resolutely objects and also talks about various deficiencies in the hospital. She realizes that she loves Pepík and is happy for some time. Pepík, however, soon leaves for his military service.

Cast

Tereza Pokorná

studentka Kristýna Hanzalová

Světlana Nálepková

studentka Alena

Michal Nesvadba

Voice by Antonín Navrátil
Pepík Dvořák

Zdeněk Podhůrský

jugoslávský student Boro

Jan Vlasák

Voice by Petr Oliva
profesor Vondráček

Jiří Opřátko

Voice by Jiří Zahajský
MUDr. Hartl

Jiří Kopta

Milan, Kristýnin bývalý spolužák

Václav Luks

děda Koudelka

Ladislav Šimek

otec Kristýny

Jiřina Chlumská

matka Kristýny

Jarmila Melichová

vrchní sestra Brúžková

Milan Livora

taxikář

Jana Gýrová

zdravotní sestra

Vladimír Pancl

Pintr

Jan Čenský

násilník Jarda

Dana Bartůňková

dívka z party

Eva Hlavatá

dívka z party

Jana Kulendová

dívka z party

Věra Pereirová

dívka z party

Jana Ursinyová

dívka z party

Miroslav Babuský

kluk z party

Antonín Kaška

kluk z party

Martin Platzer

kluk z party

Daniel Rous

kluk z party

Jaro Svitok

kluk z party

Ljiljana Milojković

Angličanka

Zuzana Bydžovská

studentka zdravotní školy

Barbora Štěpánová

dívka na internátě

Olga Želenská

dívka

Jan Teplý

Pepíkův otec

Jiří Máša

mladík

Dubbing

Blanka Bohdanová

hlas vychovatelky

Jiří Němeček

hlas pacienta se slavíkem

Crew and creators

Second Unit Director

Petr Švéda, Alois Ditrich

Assistant Director

Jarmila Bůžková

Continuity

Eva Truchlá

Director of Photography

Štefan Blažo

Second Unit Photography

Miroslav Čvorsjuk

Camera Operator

Miroslav Šnábl, Richard Špůr, Igor Demčák, Vladimír Kýbl

Set Designer

Martin Svoboda

Make-Up Artist

Iva Hanková

Film Editor

Petr Pavlíček

Assistant Film Editor

Martin Kopecký

Sound Designer

Josef Javořík

Assistant Sound Designer

Zdeněk Bobek

Production Manager

Jaromír Úlehla

Unit Production Manager

Jaroslav Procházka (výroba)

Unit Production Manager

Eva Kulhánková, Jiří Pavlásek

Pedagogical management

Václav Vorlíček (režie)

Cooperation

Dolores Šrůtková (klapka), Otto Kamenský (fotograf)

Songs

Démon

Song Composer Petr a Pavel Orm
Writer of Lyrics Petr a Pavel Orm
Singer Kamélie

Okno mé lásky

Song Composer Petr Janda
Writer of Lyrics Zdeněk Rytíř
Singer Petr Janda

V rytmu galaxie

Song Composer Petr a Pavel Orm
Writer of Lyrics Petr a Pavel Orm
Singer Kamélie

Mário

Song Composer Vítězslav Hádl
Writer of Lyrics Michael Prostějovský
Singer Eva Hurychová-Mošnerová

Jsem

Song Composer Jan Neckář
Writer of Lyrics Michael Prostějovský
Singer Václav Neckář

Production info

Original Title

Poslední mejdan

Czech Title

Poslední mejdan

English Title

The Last Binge

Working Title

Staccato v dechu [literární scénář]

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionstudent film

Genre

psychological

Student film

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1982

Production Year

1982

Premiere

premiere 1 January 1984 /unsuitable for youths/

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

70 min

Original length in metres

1 988 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