Requiem for a Maiden

The fourteen-year old Marika is raped by her father and is taken to the Institute of Social Care at night. The institute is in an old and dilapidating château. In the morning, Marika finds out to her horror that she is in a home for mentally retarded girls. The alcoholic doctor confirms during the introductory medical inspection that the girl does not belong there. But his words mean nothing; both the personnel and the institute's director are totally uncaring regarding the cases of the inmates, and also Marika's fate. They keep their wards under strong medication and treat them brutally. The educator Krocová moreover revels in almost sadistic punishments, Volfová displays lesbian tendencies, and the installed woman Communist is solely interested in visiting her son in the United States. Only the educator Suková, probably a former nun, is not indifferent to the girls. Marika tries to get out of the home and manages to escape, but is caught and returned. The retarded Johanka gets fixated on her. Marika tries to send out a letter but it is confiscated, too. Volfová moreover locks her in an outside wire cage, leaving her there in the rain. Johanka, expressing her affection to Marika, is in turn locked in a cellar. As soon as Marika hears her moaning, she gets out of the cage, turns on the siren and liberates Johanka. The two girls hide in a drying room. When Volfová finds them, Marika strikes a match. The inflammable liquid deposited in the room explodes and the ensuing fire soon spreads all over the house. Marika vainly tries to help the wards who are confined to their beds behind a locked door on the second floor. Johanka dies, too, when she goes to the fire to find her friend Marika. - The adult Marika stops by the château ruin. She spent five years in prison for arson. The educators, who were in fact responsible for the death of twenty six girls, received lower punishments. Marika discovers the motif of the sun which Johanka used to draw constantly on a shed handle.