The Witness Of a Dying Era

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1990

Production year

1982—1983, 1990

Premiere

1 February 1991

Runtime

96 min

Category

film

Genre

drama, historical, biography

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Svědek umírajícího času

Czech title

Svědek umírajícího času

English title

The Witness Of a Dying Era

Summary

The historian, politician and philosopher Jan Jesenius (1566–1621) was brought to life in the five-part Slovak TV series Lekár umierajúceho času (Doctor of the Dying Time, 1983). Seven years after its production, this footage was re-edited into a feature film, dubbed over with Czech-language dialogue. Svědek umírajícího času (The Witness Of a Dying Era, 1990) sees screenwriter Vladimír Körner and director Miloslav Luther tell the story of a noted Czech historical figure. Jan Jesenius works in Prague in the court of Emperor Rudolf II. He becomes rector of Charles University, and along with his students helps to make significant strides in the world of medicine. Jesenius battles on behalf of the Czech Crown, and is executed following the Battle of White Mountain. Petr Čepek excels in the lead role in this expansive historical epic. Also offering a strong performance is Rudolf Hrušínský as Rudolf II.

Synopsis

It is the late 16th century and a messenger rides through the land, predicting the biblical time of dying. The Hungarian puszta, 1596. It is after the battle with the Turks and the physician John Jessenius doctors Count Thurn's broken ribs. He meets his friend, the astronomer Kepler. Wittenberg, 1598. Jessenius visits the loan shark Fels to get a loan. He takes a fancy to the usurer's wise daughter Marie and marries her. Prague, the spring of 1600. Emperor Rudolf II approves Jesenius to carry out a public autopsy. Just before the event, the physician and Kepler attend a public spa. Accompanied by the barber-surgeon and bathkeeper Jakoubek, they witness the emperor's friskiness with young women. Jessenius gets a body appropriate for his demonstration from the famous Prague executioner Mydlář. The autopsy becomes an attraction. Representatives of the Bohemian estates plead with the emperor to declare freedom of faith. Prague University offers Jessenius the position of regular professor. A plague epidemic breaks out in Prague and it swiftly spreads throughout the town. Jessenius and his students treat patients in a hospital day and night. They, however, cannot save Marie who does not suffer from plague but is still included among the infected and her house is plundered. Prague, the early spring of 1612. Emperor Rudolf II dies. Vienna, the autumn of 1613. Jessenius is in town, asking for his pay as the court physician. Emperor Matthias rejects his service. On his way back, Jessenius meets a young woman Floro and spends the winter with her, writing down his medical knowledge. Floro, however, leaves him one day. After some time, the nuns give him the daughter Julinka who Floro delivered in an asylum. Jessenius takes the child in. Prague, the spring of 1618. The Bohemian estates' uprising results in the so-called defenestration of district administrators Slavata and Martinicz and scrivener Fabritius at Prague Castle. Jessenius - now the rector of Prague University - is appointed the official emissary of the Bohemian estates and leaves for Hungary. Pressburg, the autumn of 1618. Jessenius is arrested, imprisoned and interrogated. The interrogation is secretly watched by the new emperor, Ferdinand, and the one-time barber and bathkeeper Jakoubek. Jessenius is sent back to Bohemia in exchange for another captive. Vienna, the autumn of 1619. The discord between the Bohemian estates and the emperor continue. The Bohemian aristocrats are, however, running out of money as well as energy. The young Albrecht of Smiritz, the estates' nominee for the Bohemian throne, dies of consumption. Prague, the autumn of 1619. The Bohemian estates hand Friedrich von Falz the key to Prague. People cheer Friedrich, the soldiers swear loyalty to him. Prague, the autumn of 1620. November 8, 1620, is the day of the Battle of the White Mountain. Friedrich von Falz cowardly escapes. All the Bohemian feudal lords are gradually arrested and Prague University is plundered. Even Charles IV's founding act gets stolen. Jessenius waves to his departing daughter Julia through a barred window. Prague, the summer of 1921. The hangman Mydlář executes twenty seven members of the estates' resistance, with Jessenius among them. The Jesuits return to the university. Jakoubek is appointed the imperial administrator. The impoverished Kepler sells horoscopes on the street. The heads of the twelve executed men are displayed at the Prague Old Town's Bridge Tower as a warning. Europe is struck by a conflict which in the future will be called the Thirty Years' War.

Note

The film director Luther made a five-sequel historical series called The Doctor of a Dying Era for Czechoslovak television in Bratislava in 1983. Seven years later, editing the original 16mm material and copying it into a standard size resulted in the present historical film with a slightly changed title. The episodes are called: 1. Doctor Vitenbergicus, 2. Anatomia Pragensis, 3. Stellis vinctus, 4. Theatrum mundis, 5. Via Doloris. In the credits, the cast also includes the actor Ilja Racek (as the theologian Tilemann Heshusius), but his role from the first episode of the series did not make it into the final cut of the film.

Cast

Petr Čepek

lékař Ján Jesenský zvaný Jessenius

Emma Černá

Maria Regina Felsová, Jesseniova žena

Rudolf Hrušínský

císař Rudolf II.

Miloš Nedbal

Voice by Gustav Opočenský
lichvář a zlatník Fels, Mariin otec

Martin Huba

Voice by Ladislav Frej
astronom Johannes Kepler

Milan Kňažko

kat Jan Mydlář

Leoš Suchařípa

zemský sekretář svobodný pán Pavel Michna z Vacínova

Taťána Fischerová

Floro, Jesseniova milenka

Jan Kačer

hrabě Jáchym Ondřej Šlik

Stano Dančiak

baron Kryštof Harant z Polžic a Bezdružic

Mikuláš Huba

Voice by Vladimír Ráž
rytíř Bohuslav z Michalovic

Ota Sklenčka

svobodný pán Václav Budovec z Budova

Lubomír Kostelka

hrabě Jindřich Matyáš Thurn

Václav Knop

arcivévoda a král Ferdinand II. Štýrský

Andrej Hryc

velitel Franz Melchiar

Jan Kanyza

kancléř kníže Zdeněk Vojtěch Popel z Lobkovic

Jiří Bartoška

král Fridrich Falcký

Vít Olmer

místodržící hrabě Vilém Slavata z Chlumu a Košumberka

Karel Augusta

místodržící hrabě Jaroslav Bořita z Martinic

Bohuslav Čáp

písař rytíř Filip Fabricius

Václav Vydra

hrabě Albrecht Jan Smiřický

Zuzana Kronerová

Voice by Daniela Bartáková
matka představená sestra Beata

Jiří Kostka

Voice by Steva Maršálek
rytíř Kašpar Kaplíř ze Sulevic

Dana Hlaváčová

Elfrieda, služka u Felse

Vlastimil Venclík

malíř Jacob Hoefnagel

Barbora Štěpánová

jeptiška sestra Pia

Bronislav Poloczek

lazebník Jakub

Jan Kuželka

student Gregorius

Rostislav Kuba

student Ambrosius

František Husák

velitel Ostrštok

Jan Teplý

prokurátor rytíř Přibík Jeníšek z Újezda

Marta Richterová

měšťanka, majitelka domů

Vladimír Hrubý

Voice by Vladimír Salač
farář při popravě

Oldřich Velen

profesor Karlovy univerzity

Rudolf Hrušínský ml.

opilý důstojník s děvčaty

Milan Riehs

svobodný pán Pavel z Říčan

Josef Karlík

astronom Tycho de Brahe

František Řehák

profesor Vavřinec Benedikt z Nudožer

Pavol Mikulík

španělský vyslanec don Baltasar de Zúñiga

Karel Brožek

Mistr David Lippach

Milan Klacek

komoří Filip Lang z Langenfelsu

Yvetta Kornová

Dorotka, služebná u Mydláře

Ladislav Křiváček

Voice by Radan Rusev
venkovan Seppl, Jesseniův průvodce

Zdeněk Srstka

okradač mrtvol

Václav Kaňkovský

starý muž na ulici

Zita Furková

Betka, služebná u Jessenia

Josef Žluťák Hrubý

sluha ve vězení

Václav Kotva

kupčící kněz při popravě

Vladimír Černý

katův pomocník Prokůpek

Kateřina Urbancová

Julinka, Jesseniova dcera

Stanislava Bartošová

kněžna Polyxena z Lobkovic, Lobkovicova žena

Miloš Pietor

rektor Martin Bacháček z Nouměřic

František Kovár

rektor Jan Campanus Vodňanský

Peter Debnár

Voice by Jiří Zavřel
kníže Matouš Děpolt Popel z Lobkovic

Jiří Prýmek

Voice by Jiří Havel
svobodný pán Jan Daniel Kapr z Kaprštejna

Karel Fořt

Voice by Ladislav Krečmer
vyvolávač při propravě

Miloš Vavruška

velitel Kristián I. Anhaltský

Anna Maľová

Bohunka, Jakubova žena

Bohuslav Ličman

páter Sabinus

František Kubíček

Voice by Mirko Musil
starý rybář u ohně

Jožka Stoklasa

venkovan Tobias

Petr Drozda

felčar v ležení

Commentary

Dubbing

Jiří Němeček

hlas posla války

Gustav Bubník

hlas mladého hraběte Albrechta Jana Smiřického

Pavel Rímský

hlas vojáka v ležení/hlas vojáka ve vězení

Jiří Havel

hlas vojáka s arkebuzou

Ladislav Krečmer

hlas důstojníka čtoucího přísahu

Crew and creators

Second Unit Director

Marian Puobiš, Jan Křížek

Assistant Director

Eliška Moulisová

Director of Photography

Ivan Šlapeta

Production Designer

Jiří Hlupý

Assistent Production Designer

Václav Hlávka

Set Designer

Jan Petrů, Dana Smržová, Ivan Ernyei, Pavel Svoboda

Costume Designer

Jan Kropáček

Film Editor

Jiří Brožek

Assistant Film Editor

Eva Horázná

Sound Designer

Jiří Kříž

Assistant Sound Designer

Adolf Werner

Special Effects

Ladislav Vobecký

Production Manager

Karel Kochman

Unit Production Manager

Jana Příkaská, Aleš Týbl, Michal Caban

Consultant

Josef Polišenský, Mária Bokesová-Uherová, Pavel Šebek, Robert Kratochvíl, František Michálek (jezdectví)

Cooperation

Helena Friedlová (klapka), Ota Pšenička (vrchní osvětlovač), Jaroslav Trousil (fotograf)

Music

Music Composed by

Jiří Bulis

Music Performed by

FISYO (Music Conducted by Mario Klemens), Rožmberská kapela (Music Conducted by František Pok)

Songs

Záře bílá zdáli přišla k nám /Pastorela/

Singer ženský hlas

Production info

Original Title

Svědek umírajícího času

Czech Title

Svědek umírajícího času

English Title

The Witness Of a Dying Era

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

drama, historical, biography

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1990

Production Year

1982—1983, 1990

Premiere

premiere 1 February 1991 /suitable for youths/

Production

Filmové studio Barrandov, Československá televízia Bratislava (původní zadavatel 1982–1983)

Distribution

Lucernafilm

Creative Group

1. tvůrčí skupina, Jiří Blažek (vedoucí 1. tvůrčí skupiny), Jiří Ulrich ml. (vedoucí produkce 1. tvůrčí skupiny)

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

96 min

Original length in metres

2 740 meters

Distribution carrier

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

Event: Prémie Sekce pro tvůrčí činnost v oblasti divadla a filmu při Slovenském literárním fondu za rok 1984

1985
Bratislava / Czechoslovakia
Marian Puobiš

Vítěz

Event: Prémie Sekce pro tvůrčí činnost v oblasti divadla a filmu při Slovenském literárním fondu za rok 1984

1985
Bratislava / Czechoslovakia
Miloslav Luther