The Devil's Mistress

I won’t hide that I was truly looking forward to watching a film about Lída Baarová. I wanted to watch the story of one of the most tried Czech actresses from the First Republic and I was lured not only by the huge budget, but also by the actors who were a part of this project. Films like In the Shadow or Habermann's Mill proved that even in our country there is a lot of skillful people who can film a serious historical story. I went to see the film immediately after the Czech president Miloš Zeman and his spokesman Jiří Ovčáček saw it. That’s just as an introduction. Filip Renč’s filmmaking is a total routine but I admit that I really liked Guard No. 47. But then he really pissed me off by his support for the political party ODS and the final push was his filming of spots for Miloš Zeman at the time of his presidential candidacy. That is really lame. I believe that politics do not belong into art and never did. So, I really don’t give a shit that Zeman or Ovčáček saw the movie. I also don’t give a fuck that they liked it. Did Renč really need a pre-premiere for politicians, whom I personally consider to be human hyenas? If he is an artist, he is able to manage in other ways. This film was supported not only by the long-debated grants, but also by Daniel Landa along with some artists from Arabia, as he likes to say. So, it seems that Mr Renč can manage pretty well. Anyway, I would shut up, if I could at least say that the film is good. But it would really have to be good. The screenplay was quite okay. Lída’s story is incredibly strong and sad, so there was not much the screenwriter could have messed up. The problem is the directing. I don’t know where Renč gets his ideas from, and the lowest point is Lída’s sex scene with Goebbels. First we see the legs, where one is limping, then the camera moves into a fireplace where we watch the fire and then in that fire we see the faces of the two in sexual agony. That is probably the worst from the film. But I have to say that such scene was really sickening for me. At the same time, the pre-war atmosphere was done well and the actors tried their best. Táňa Pauhofová was great. The German actors also did not disappoint and Martin Huba and Jiří Mádl really pleased me. I even think that those two had the best characters of the whole movie. Pavel Kříž as Hitler also did not bother me. It’s a pity that Simona Stašová, whom I otherwise hold in high regard, plays a character like from some slapstick comedy. That really does not belong in a story like this one, which is my next issue with the movie. Personally, I’ve seen a lot of European dramas from the period of the Second World War. At times the stories were really strong and sad. However, I have never had a whole tough story lightened up by humor. It really does not belong in these stories and the worst of all that in this movie was, sadly, Mrs. Stašová. Mr Renč, you really cannot shoot a serious film seriously, can you? With everything it entails. After all, the Night of Broken Glass could have been an emotionally nerve-wrecking scene. I also anticipated that the finale would really knock me down. It was going in that direction, but then the director cut it off so quickly that I really didn’t know if I should laugh or cry. The three stars are really out of pity. Even though the movie pissed me a lot, in the end I got used to its narration. On the other hand, should I really be forced to getting used to a film’s narration? (23/01/2016) (less) (more)