Tainted Horseplay

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1988

Production year

1988

Premiere

1 March 1989

Runtime

129 min

Category

film

Genre

psychological, tragicomedy, morality

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Kopytem sem kopytem tam

Czech title

Kopytem sem kopytem tam

English title

Tainted Horseplay

Working title

Geometrickou řadou

Summary

In 1988 director Věra Chytilová delivered a striking generational tragicomedy on the 30-somethings of that period with Kopytem sem, kopytem tam (Tainted Horseplay). The protagonists of the caustic group portrait are pals who enjoy a tipple, all kinds of hi-jinks and no-strings sexual adventures. Auditor Pepe (Tomáš Hanák), vet Dědek (Milan Šteindler) and restaurant manager František (David Vávra) are financially secure and enjoy life with their similarly fun-loving girlfriends – at least until the moment when the brash Pepe collapses and ends up in hospital. It transpires that one of the group is HIV positive – and their hitherto cheerily shared promiscuity is replaced by the paranoid collapse of previously friendly relationships…In Tainted Horseplay, which she co-wrote with Pavel Škapík, Chytilová, then almost 60, unerringly skewers not just the moral decrepitude of the late 1980s but also the incompatible relationships of men and women, two of the film’s key themes. The target of the director’s uncompromisingly sharp-focused condemnation was not just fruitless official structures but the new, showily non-conformist generation beset by boredom, alienation, amorality and spiritual emptiness. Chytilová found well-disposed collaborators among members of Prague’s Sklep theatre who played the main characters with great gusto, drawing freely on their own sarcastic poetics. Sklep were also involved in Tomáš Vorel’s generational portmanteau film Pražská 5 (Prague Five) (1988) and Kouř (Smoke) (1990). In Tainted Horseplay AIDS, then a taboo subject, became a metaphorical threat impacting not only irresponsible individuals but also those around them. Credit for the picture’s intellectual and visual focus also belongs to cinematographer Jaroslav Brabec, who worked with Chytilová on her next, Mozart-themed film, Mí Pražané mi rozumějí (The Inhibitants of Prague Understand Me) (1991). Chantal Poullain, who had excelled in the director’s historical tragicomedy Šašek a královna (The Clown and the Queen) (1987), appears as Pepe’s attractive foreign girlfriend.

Synopsis

Men in their thirties, the controller, Pepe, the vet, Old Fogey, and the restaurant manager, František are enjoying life. Love is, for them, just sex and therefore they change women who have similar lifestyles: the extravagant, Jiřina, František's sprightly colleague, Jana, the mundane livestock specialist, Hanka. They all spend evenings in restaurants and bars. They don't lack money. During restaurant inspections Pepe always collects good sums as bribery. In the Carlsbad spa colonnade, Pepe sees a beautiful French woman and seduces her. Pepe meets Petra in the mountains. She is well guarded by her father, but in the end she escapes from home to Pepe. On the way home from the mountains Pepe feels sick and he has to go to hospital for observation. He is visited by the whole cheerful bunch and, out of fun, everybody lets a blood test be made. The result is tragic, as one test is AIDS positive. But nobody knows whose result it is. After this moment, the life of the bunch changes radically. Mostly for Jana, who is pregnant. Any of the three men can be the father. The Old Fogey and František are horrified, the apathetic Pepe leaves. On the colonnade, a girl resembling the French girl is watching him. Pepe just indifferently looks away.

Note

In the film there are used texts, sayings and anthem of the Sklep theatre. The film is called according to the poem: Tainted Horseplay By the hoof here, by the hoof there, nine time passed the second day. By the hoof here, by the hoof there, mirror reflexions are burning in the sun. My heart from the body frame is crowing out, and in the evening my forehead is walking up in the row. And the command The Castle! My command Direction! I forgot for the nine time over the second day. And the drums of the bushes feel the strong tone. By the hoofs beat imprudence, by the hoof here, by the hoof there. The cimbaly smell in the grotesque right of my death. Only the kettledrums are shouting. By the hoof here, by the hoof there. And Florian Targonelli squeezes his way with his bike around the Otter´s creek. The hat reinforced above the mind and reason in the skip of a little joy. The joy lasts a small fairy of disturbance. And I am falling dazzled by her blackness. By the hoof the beats imprudence.

Film online

Cast

Tomáš Hanák

kontrolor Josef Málek alias Pepe/upír v televizi

Milan Šteindler

veterinář RNDr. Milan Dědek/upír v televizi

David Vávra

provozní okresního kulturního střediska František/upír v televizi

Ivana Kuntová

Petra, Pepeho známost z hor

Tereza Kučerová

Jiřina, Pepeho přítelkyně

Renata Becerrová

laborantka Hanka, Dědkova kolegyně

Barbora Dlouhá

Jana, Františkova kolegyně

Chantal Poullain

Katy-Hvězda, Pepeho idol

Josef Kobr

ředitel okresního kulturního střediska

Jiří Bartoška

herec, milenec Hvězdy

Zdeněk Mucha

Petřin otec

Jana Marková

Jandová, Františkova kolegyně

Dáša Neblechová

Milanova matka

Petr Křiváček

profesor Netík

Magda Dolejšová

Netíková

Pavel Vangeli

cizinec na plese

Monika Herbichová

prsatka Maruš

Daniela Muchová

vedoucí Grill baru

Milan Štrich

číšník v Grill baru

Dagmar Pušová

laborantka Věra

Daniela Šrajerová

sestra na pohotovosti

Karel Sekera

vrátný na záchytce

Martina Jirotková

sestra Věra

Marie Vnoučková

servírka Marie

Andrea Havlenová

Dana

Anna Gruberová

uklízečka Maštálková

František Olšovský

číšník na plese

Hana Menčíková

známá

Břetislav Tetera

barman na plese

Jitka Zelenková (2)

sestra na klinice

Jaroslav Kolísek

číšník v Puppu/mladík na plese

Jaroslav Heyduk

muž v nemocnici

Luděk Munzar

herec přednášející poezii v televizi

Miroslav Anton

mužský

Zuzana Talpová

televizní hlasatelka

Radovan Versigan

opilec

Ladislav Chroust

funkcionář SSM

Dobroslav Čech

ředitel Státního veterinárního ústavu

Martina Riedelbauchová

představitelka srdce

Miroslav Chochola

příslušník VB

Věra Janovská

žena u Netíků

Simona Zbořilová

závodnice/dívka na kolonádě

Jaroslav Tomsa

vrchní číšník v Embassy/rváč

Lucie Kožinová

dcera Netíkových

Pavel Myslík

řidič auta

K. Grundzová

cikánka zvaná Čokoládová Bety

A. Lolová

cikánka Margit

Irena Šerbanová

cikánka

E. Peštová

cikánka

Aleš Najbrt

představitel Švejka

Libor Čížek

divadelní představení

Dana Dostálová

divadelní představení

Michal Dvořák

divadelní představení

Jiří Chlumecký

divadelní představení

Karel Holas

divadelní představení

Petr Myslivec

divadelní představení

Lada Odstrčilová

divadelní představení

Romana Rédlová

divadelní představení

Petra Zelenková

divadelní představení

Crew and creators

Second Unit Director

Stanislava Hutková

Assistant Director

Jiří Purchart

Screenstory

Pavel Škapík

Shooting Script

Věra Chytilová

Director of Photography

Jaroslav Brabec

Second Unit Photography

Ladislav Chroust

Camera Operator

Michal Škoda

Production Designer

Zbyněk Hloch

Assistent Production Designer

Petr Javůrek

Set Designer

Milan Bábik, Jiří Matějka, Eva Slívová, Karel Vaňásek

Sound Designer

Miloslav Hůrka

Production Manager

Jaroslav Bouček

Unit Production Manager

Pavel Nový, Jitka Hoferková

Unit Production Manager

Michal Přikryl, Pavel Bačkovský

Consultant

Jaroslav Tomsa, František Michálek (jezdectví)

Cooperation

Jana Zajícová (klapka), Jaromír Komárek (fotograf), Pavel Bočkovský

Music

Selected Music

Johann Strauss ml. (Cikánský baron), Johann Strauss ml. (Na krásném modrém Dunaji), Bedřich Smetana (Prodaná nevěsta /Znám jednu dívku/), Bedřich Smetana (Prodaná nevěsta /Proč bychom se netěšili/), Antonín Dvořák (Slovanské tance)

Music Performed by

skupina Národní třída

Songs

Hastrmane, tatrmane

Song Composer Zdenek Merta

Slavíci z Madridu

Song Composer Hugues Aufray
Writer of Lyrics Ivo Fischer
Singer Tomáš HanákMilan Šteindler

Cikánský baron jsem já

Song Composer Johann Strauss ml.
Singer Josef KobrMilan ŠteindlerKarel Gott

Láska má

Song Composer Angelo Michajlov
Writer of Lyrics Zdeněk Podskalský
Singer Milan ŠteindlerTomáš Hanák

Dále jen, dále jen

Singer Milan ŠteindlerTomáš Hanák

Hory, doly, černý les

Song Composer lidová píseň
Writer of Lyrics lidová píseň
Singer Tomáš HanákMilan ŠteindlerDavid Vávra

Bílý sníh se snáší

Song Composer Ladislav Pikart
Writer of Lyrics František Řebíček
Singer Karel GottMilan ŠteindlerTomáš Hanák

Počkej, ty budeš litovat

Song Composer lidová píseň
Singer Milan Šteindler

Doudlebská polka

Song Composer lidová píseň

Tempo doby

Song Composer skupina ZOO
Writer of Lyrics skupina ZOO
Singer skupina ZOO

Production info

Original Title

Kopytem sem kopytem tam

Czech Title

Kopytem sem kopytem tam

English Title

Tainted Horseplay

Working Title

Geometrickou řadou

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

psychological, tragicomedy, morality

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1988

Production Year

1988

Production specifications

literary Screenplay approved 11 November 1987
technical Screenplay approved 25 November 1987
start of filming 7 December 1987
end of filming 4 March 1988
start of filming 13 May 1988 (dotáčky)
end of filming 19 May 1988 (dotáčky)
the first film copy approved 8 August 1988
projection approval 14 October 1988
projection approval 9 November 1988 (po úpravách)
withdrawal from distribution 31 May 1993

Premiere

premiere 1 March 1989 /unsuitable for youths/
gala premiere 9 March 1989 (kino Blaník, Praha)

Creative Group

1. tvůrčí skupina, Jiří Blažek (vedoucí 1. tvůrčí skupiny)

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

129 min

Original length in metres

3 675 meters

Distribution carrier

16mm, 35mm

Aspect ratio

1:1,37

Colour

colour

Sound

sound

Sound system/format

mono

Versions

Czech

Dialogue languages

Czech, German

Subtitles languages

without subtitles

Opening/End credits languages

Czech

Awards

Vítěz

Festival: 27. festival českých a slovenských filmů Mladá Boleslav

1989
Mladá Boleslav / Czechoslovakia
Jiří Chlumecký

Vítěz

Festival: 3. filmový festival mladých Velké Poříčí u Hronova

1989
Velké Poříčí u Hronova / Czechoslovakia

Vítěz

Festival: 16. mezinárodní filmový festival Moskva

1989
Moskva / Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

Vítěz

Festival: 27. festival českých a slovenských filmů Mladá Boleslav

1989
Mladá Boleslav / Czechoslovakia
Jiří Veselý

Vítěz

Festival: 27. festival českých a slovenských filmů Mladá Boleslav

1989
Mladá Boleslav / Czechoslovakia
Jaroslav Brabec

Vítěz

Event: Československá nominace na Cenu americké Akademie filmových věd a umění Oscar 1989

1989
Praha / Czechoslovakia

Vítěz

Festival: 27. festival českých a slovenských filmů Mladá Boleslav

1989
Mladá Boleslav / Czechoslovakia