The season of happiness
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The season of happiness |
| Original title | Štěstí |
| Country of production | Czech Republic |
| original language | Czech |
| Publishing year | 2005 |
| length | 100 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Bohdan Slama |
| script | Bohdan Slama |
| production | Pavel Strnad |
| music | Leonid Soybelman |
| camera | Diviš Marek |
| cut | Jan Daňhel |
| occupation | |
| |
The Season of Happiness (Original title: Štěstí ) is a Czech feature film from 2005. The focus is on people who are torn between the sense of duty to help the weak and pursuing their own life plans. The multiple award-winning tragicomedy was directed by Bohdan Sláma , who also wrote the script. The main roles were played by Tatiana Vilhelmová and Pavel Liška .
action
Young Tonda and Monika accompany her boyfriend to the airport as he is traveling to America to work there. Tonda lives with his aunt in his grandfather's old, dilapidated house. His parents do not understand this "alternative way of life" and are also concerned because Tonda is still alone. Tonda and Monika have been friends since childhood and lived in the same apartment block. His parents still live there; just like Monika, who lives with her parents. Monika's old friend Dáša lives in the same staircase with her two little sons. Dáša has no control over her life - she neglects her children and her apartment is neglected. She is attractive, but apparently has problems retaining men in the long term.
Monika increasingly takes care of the children and also involves Tonda in this task, which gives them a deeper relationship. Monika's mother is skeptical about this, however - she urges Monika to follow her boyfriend to America, who has already organized a job for her there. She postponed this, however, because she feels responsible for Dáša's children. When Dáša's nervous condition worsens and she is admitted to the psychiatric ward, Monika takes their children with her, whereupon the conflict with the mother escalates. Then she moves out and ultimately accepts Tonda's offer to move in with him and his aunt - the children feel at home there anyway, and the aunt is happy about new life in the house. Tonda, who increasingly falls in love with Monika and is growing into a kind of father role, is now making efforts to renovate the old house, for which he is even willing to work in the factory that he hated. His happiness only lasted for a short time - his aunt fell ill with cancer with no prospect of recovery, and Dáša, released from treatment, brought her children back.
Monika, released from her obligation, now has to make a decision. Tonda tells her he can't stand the fact that she stays with him out of pity, and so she flies to America. The aunt advises him not to stay alone in the house and sell it to the factory. When Monika returns, the house is being demolished. Nobody knows where Tonda is. Monika gets on a train and drives into the unknown.
reception
The film premiered on July 25, 2005 in Uherské Hradiště. In the following time it was shown at numerous international film festivals, including the Toronto Film Festival . On September 15, 2005, the film was released in Czech cinemas, where it was seen 189,328 times and grossed over 17 million Czech crowns . The season of happiness was released in Germany on April 20, 2006.
The majority of the critics received the film positively. The film-dienst wrote in the August 2006 issue: "A pessimistic social drama, filmed in cool gray-green tones and with a moving camera, almost obtrusively veristically about the difficulties of looking for happiness in an ailing society."
Awards
At the Festival Internacional de Cine de Donostia-San Sebastián 2005 the film won the Golden Shell , the main prize of the festival, and Aňa Geislerová won the Silver Shell for best actress. On the Athens International Film Festival was the season of happiness , the Golden Athena . At the Angers European First Film Festival 2006 the film was awarded the audience award and the award of the European jury. The film received the FIPRESCI Prize at the Cottbus Film Festival .
With the award of the Czech film award Czech Lion film won in the categories Best Film , Best Director , Best Screenplay , Best Actor (Pavel Liska), Best Actress (Tatiana Vilhelmová), Best Supporting Actress ( Anna Geislerová ) and Best Cinematography . There were also nominations for Bolek Polívka for Best Supporting Actor and for Best Sound . Bohdan Sláma won the critic's award.
The film was the Czech Republic's entry for a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2006 Academy Awards , but it was neither nominated nor awarded.
Web links
- The season of happiness in the Internet Movie Database (English)