Papilio

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1986

Production year

1986

Premiere

1 May 1987

Runtime

97 min

Category

film

Genre

drama

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Papilio

Czech title

Papilio

English title

Papilio

Summary

Director Jiří Svoboda’s wartime psychological drama recalls the time when German occupying forces closed universities and students were forced to quickly find work and so often ended up in environments completely alien to them. One such student, František Cepek, instead of studying technology in Prague finds himself working in a factory as a day labourer. The sensitive, insecure young man comes under the influence of an older colleague, Hrabě, who draws the idealistic new recruit into a gang of thieves. František, nicknamed “Papilio” by his new companions, one day discovers that the self-serving Hrabě is trying to blackmail resistance fighters in their factory. This revelation forces the young man to become a false friend... Filip Renč plays the lead in this impressively conceived period drama from 1986. The part of the vile Hrabě went to Milan Kňažko.

Synopsis

The German occupation deprived František Cepek of the chance to study at the Technical University right after his A levels. He must instead begin in a factory as an auxiliary worker. He experiences further misfortune with the unhappy ending of his affection towards his schoolmate Ema, who is arrested along with her parents. Another auxiliary worker Telc, nicknamed the Count - who is successful with women and gets by in every situation - makes a deep impression on the inexperienced youngster, even though he is in fact an unscrupulous man and a thief. František nevertheless joins his gang and participates in their visits to opulent villas where they steal scarce groceries and other things. One day, they rob the villa of Ema's parents, inhabited by a new factory director following the family's imprisonment. The Count begins calling František Papilio, after the Latin name of a prepared and preserved butterfly found in Ema's room. On its escape from the villa, the gang runs into the worker Kronďák and the man gets knocked out by one of Telc's cronies. The gang finds a list of members of the factory's resistance in his pocket. The list is seized by the Count who does not hand it over to the resistant fighters; he begins to blackmail them instead and thus loses František's approval. And as soon as František finds out that Count eventually denounced them all, he shoots him dead with his personally made gun.

Cast

Milan Kňažko

dělník Telc zvaný Hrabě

Filip Renč

František Cepek zvaný Papilio

Pavel Nový

Bobr, Telcův kumpán

Marcel Vašinka

Cynda, Telcův kumpán

Ivana Chýlková

Telcova žena

Lenka Skopalová

dělnice Anna

Jiří Kodet

ředitel továrny Karl Danek

Štefan Mišovic

dělník Matějka

František Švihlík

dělník Knobloch

Alois Liškutín

mistr v továrně

Miloslav Štibich

Cepkův otec

Jana Vychodilová

Cepkova matka

Lubomír Kostelka

majitel vily

Valentina Thielová

manželka majitele vily

Jan Pohan

odbojář

Arnošt Böhm

udavač Kronďák

Jana Janatová

Ema, Františkova přítelkyně

Vít Pešina

německý voják

Jaroslav Vozáb

karbaník s brýlemi

Milan Slabihoud

německý důstojník

Miroslav Grác

verkšuc-vrátný

Pavel Grégr

civilista

Viktor Malát

civilista

Jaroslav Konšál

civilista

Bohuslav Ličman

host v hospodě

Miroslav Krejča

host v hospodě

Michal Dlouhý

německý voják v tramvaji

Crew and creators

Second Unit Director

Hana Hanušová

Assistant Director

Milan Špinka

Screenstory

Miroslav Vaic

Screenplay

Miroslav Vaic

Shooting Script

Jiří Svoboda

Director of Photography

Josef Vaniš

Second Unit Photography

Rudolf Jokl

Camera Operator

Bohumil Vodička

Production Designer

Bohumil Nový

Assistent Production Designer

Olga Rosenfelderová

Set Designer

Zdeněk Jeřábek, Jiří Libánský, Rudolf Kinský, Dana Smržová

Costume Designer

Dimitrij Kadrnožka

Film Editor

Josef Valušiak

Assistant Film Editor

Jana Šimonová

Sound Designer

Jiří Moudrý

Special Effects

Trikový ateliér FSB

Production Manager

Petr Čapek

Unit Production Manager

Daniela Jenčíková, Josef Štambach, Václav Marhoul

Unit Production Manager

Max Weiss, Anna Tomoszová

Cooperation

Jana Mlynářová (klapka), Zdeněk Vávra (fotograf), J. Botková

Music

Music Composed by

Jozef Revallo

Selected Music

Ludwig van Beethoven (Symfonie č.9 d moll /Óda na radost/)

Songs

Chaloupky pod horama

Song Composer František Voborský
Writer of Lyrics František Voborský
Singer sbor

Cikánka

Song Composer Karel Vacek

Sám s děvčetem v dešti

Song Composer Kamil Běhounek
Writer of Lyrics Karel Kozel
Singer R. A. Dvorský

Má roztomilá Baruško

Singer Milan Kňažkosbor

Studentská halenka

Production info

Original Title

Papilio

Czech Title

Papilio

English Title

Papilio

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

drama

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1986

Production Year

1986

Production specifications

literary Screenplay approved 29 November 1984
start of filming 10 March 1986
technical Screenplay approved 26 March 1986
end of filming 1 December 1986
projection approval 5 December 1986
the first film copy approved 8 December 1986
withdrawal from distribution 30 June 1991

Premiere

premiere 1 May 1987 /unsuitable for youths/

Creative Group

1. dramaturgicko-výrobní skupina, Jiří Blažek (vedoucí 1. dramaturgicko-výrobní skupiny)

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

97 min

Original length in metres

2 736 meters

Distribution carrier

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: 25. festival českých a slovenských filmů Bratislava

1987
Bratislava / Czechoslovakia