During the 1980s, noted director Karel Kachyňa made two hospital-themed films based on the novel Vizita (Visitation, 1967) by author Adolf Branald: tragicomedy Pozor, vizita! (Watch Out, the Doctor Is on His Round!, 1981) and Sestřičky (The Nurses, 1983). The first film, set in the early 1960s, tells the story of a wandering bachelor, unable to withstand being in mandatory hospital isolation. This second film is set during the 1950s, with a young nurse serving as the lead character. Marie Sahulová is punished for an ethical failing – seeking a relationship with hospital patient Petr – and ends up being sent to a rural health centre. An older colleague, nicknamed “Babi”, ends up providing some much-needed support. While nurse Marie has a hard time adjusting to her new surroundings, she proves adept at managing the heavy workload, and begins to be viewed as indispensable by her colleagues. These include the tough, but understanding Babi, ambulance driver Arnošt, and an older doctor GP, with whom the nurse does the rounds of nearby villages and isolated residences. Marie finds maturity and internal stability via a relationship with Petr, a wannabe singer… Director Karel Kachyňa focuses on the difficult lives of 1950s women, as related in Branald’s literary work, in which attempts at emancipation in both the personal and private spheres often meet a hostile reception. But the determined Marie is provided with an opportunity out in the countryside to build her own life anew, interacting with various life “cases” on the way. Seventeen-year-old non-actress Alena Mihulová plays the protagonist. Mihulová went on to become a life partner to director Kachyňa, eleven years her senior, and would appear in four more of his films: Dobré světlo (A Good Light, 1984); Smrt krásných srnců (Death of the Beautiful Deer, 1986); Městem chodí Mikuláš (St. Nicholas Is in Town, 1992); and Kráva (The Cow, 1992). The talented first-time actress benefits from being able to play off Jiřina Jirásková, cast as the wise and distinctive Babi.
The very young nurse Marie is punished by being transferred from a town hospital to a village health centre. The reason was her love for a patient, Petr, with whom she wanted to spend her first night of love in the nurses' home. The health centre is responsible for a large district and Marie must thus start work immediately. She stays with an elderly nurse called Grandma by everybody. Marie meets Petr who works at a stud farm but is planning to be a singer with a rock group. Marie wants to resign from her job but the ambulance driver Arnot comes to pick her up to treat an injured woodcutter in a forest. The senior consultant evít is surprised how professionally Marie dealt with her first independent case. The nurse stays on in the village and gradually even gets close to Grandma who treats the patients a bit harshly but always with deep knowledge and restrained understanding. She mainly protects pregnant women and children whose life in the village is far from easy. Marie receives her own "beat", and she and Grandma soon help deliver her first newborn. Petr failed in his singing career and returns to the stud farm. Grandma and Marie discover a seventeen-year old, called Zuzka, at a village farm. The girl got pregnant by her old relative and the two women take care of her. Petr again woos Marie and offers to marry her. They spend a night in Grandma's house. The girl then tells Grandma about her first love experience and is surprised to hear that Grandma was never actually in a love relationship. Soon after, Marie and Arnot are driving Zuzka to the maternity hospital but do not make it there, and Marie must help the young mother deliver her child in the ambulance. Everything turns out well and the girl even receives appreciation from the senior consultant. At home, she talks to Grandma and plans her future with Petr. Someone knocks on the window, maybe needing Marie's help.
The opening title reads that the story takes place during the 1950s but the film includes anachronisms from this point: the local cinema display window announces the screening of a 1962 Polish movie, the song I´ve Met a Deer is from the much later theatre Semafor etc.
zdravotní sestra Marie Sahulová
zdravotní sestra zvaná babi
ošetřovatel koní Petr
saniťák Arnošt
doktor
hajný Krákora
správce statku Revéš
primář Ševít
Voice by Zuzana Bydžovská
zdravotní sestra Míková
vrchní sestra
Zuzka Ferenčíková
Fulínek
Viskup
Viskupka
Voice by Robert Vrchota
dědek
Mariin otec
Mariina matka
staniční sestra
okresní zdravotník
řidič pohřebního vozu
kočí Frýbort
hlídač v internátu
Voldřichová, Zuzčina teta
sekundář
Pechlátová
učitel
hospodský Venda Brabenec
hospodský kluk
žena hajného
zdravotní sestřička
starý muž
zraněný dřevorubec Fišera
pacientka
Adolf Branald (Vizita – román)
Zdeněk Jeřábek, Rudolf Kinský, Stanislav Krejča, Jiří Vadroň
Iva Šetková, Tomáš Baloun
Vojtěch Panáček, Luboš Kozák
MUDr. Josef Jonáš
Renata Stádníková (klapka), Jiří Kučera (fotograf), Jaroslav Trousil (fotograf)
Franz Lehár (Paganini /Líbám, ženy, vás tak rád/)
FISYO (Music Conducted by František Belfín)
Song Composer Jiří Šlitr
Writer of Lyrics Miroslav Horníček
Singer Miloslav ŠtibichAlena Mihulová
Singer Jiří Růžička
Song Composer Franz Lehár
Writer of Lyrics Emanuel Brožík
Singer Alena Mihulová
Singer Ondřej Vetchý
Sestřičky
Sestřičky
The Nurses
film
featuretheatrical distribution
psychological
Czechoslovakia
1983
1983
withdrawal from distribution 1 October 1993
premiere 1 March 1984 /unsuitable for youths/
1. dramaturgicko-výrobní skupina, Jiří Blažek (vedoucí 1. dramaturgicko-výrobní skupiny)
feature film
85 min
2 429 meters
16mm, 35mm
1:1,37
colour
sound
mono
Czech
Czech
without subtitles
Czech
Festival: 11. mezinárodní festival zdravotnických filmů a filmů Červeného kříže Varna
1985
Varna / Bulgaria
Festival: 22. festival československých filmů Banská Bystrica
1984
Banská Bystrica / Czechoslovakia
Luboš Fišer
Festival: 11. festival zdravotnických filmů Podbořany
1984
Podbořany / Czechoslovakia
Alena Mihulová
Festival: 11. festival zdravotnických filmů Podbořany
1984
Podbořany / Czechoslovakia