Cutting It Short

 

Czechoslovakia | 1980 | 93 min. | director: Jiří Menzel | DoP: Jaromír Šofr | screenplay: Bohumil Hrabal, Jiří Menzel | cast: Magda Vášáryová, Jiří Schmitzer, Jaromír Hanzlík, Rudolf Hrušínský, Petr Čepek, Oldřich Vlach, František Řehák

Cutting It Short is the forth approach by director Jiří Menzel into the peculiar world of the writer Bohumil Hrabal. It tells the story of beautiful Mrs. Maryška (Magda Vášáryová) and her husband Francina (Jiří Schmitzer), a young brewery manager. The idyllic atmosphere of the First Republic in the provincial small town is disrupted by the arrival of Francin’s exuberant and noisy brother Pepin (Jaromír Hanzlík), who sets in motion a cascade of comic situations. Jaromír Šofr’s camerawork, which creates the bright, pastel compositions in the picture, has an indelible contribution to the charming atmosphere of this film.