Noc nevěsty
Directed by:
Karel KachyňaCinematography:
Josef IllíkComposer:
Jan NovákCast:
Jana Brejchová, Mnislav Hofmann, Gustáv Valach, Josef Kemr, Josef Elsner, Čestmír Řanda st., Jaroslav Moučka, Josef Větrovec, Valerie Kaplanová (more)Plots(1)
One day of autumn 1950, during the forced collectivization, the farmers lead their cattle into the common stables of the new cooperative. The cooperative's chairman, Picin, publicly calls out the farmers' names. Only one among the farmers - the rich farmer Konvalinka - opposes the imposed violence in a horrific way, shooting all his cattle and himself committing suicide. The village witnesses the return of Konvalinka's daughter, nicknamed Miss [Slečna], a former nun whose cloister was closed by the new regime. She is running the remaining property alone, only with the help of the village fool Ambrož. Besides that, Miss is also feeding the cooperative's pigs. The farm-labourer Ambrož becomes the target of disgusting jokes suggesting a sexual relationship with the strict young woman employer. Picin is well aware that the members of the cooperative steal grain and not all of them have handed over their guns. Before Christmas, Miss decides to revive the village tradition and goes to the banned midnight mass on sledge. Clad in a nun's habit, she arrives at the church and blesses the people. The religious excitement of the crowd of villagers makes the priest serve the ceremony. Picin's common-law wife Filipa dies, and while the undertaker and his wife prepare her for the grave, Picin sets off to the church with a loaded gun. The priest, in front of the gathered people, scolds the former nun for pride and the young woman runs away to the fields, where in the freeze out to death. Picin, desperate of Filipa's death and blinded by hatred, shoots dead one of the farmers in front of the church. Miss dies in the frost and the members of militia arrive to the village from town. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Reviews (2)
After watching The Nun's Night, this film may perhaps be the best film dedicated to the collectivization of the Czechoslovak village. Kachyňa's poetics have darkened here, the film is grittier, and moreover, due to the camera movements and dynamic editing, the film appears confused at first. On the other hand, such top-quality camera work combined with impressive black-and-white imagery is rarely seen in Czechoslovak cinematography, and in my opinion, Kachyňa stands up well in comparison to the world-famous classics of his time. The screenplay does not take sides, it simply captures the clash of opposing ideological worlds and different interest groups and value hierarchies. On one side, there is a world of generations of built-up farmland, religion, traditions, and superstitions, on the other side is the world of those who have decided to build a new society at all costs, even if it means ruthlessly destroying the old one. The Wedding Night is a bold and provocative film not only in the context of its time. The comrades really could not forgive Procházka for the character of the bitter and vengeful chairman of the cooperative, and the once-prominent author thus became a symbol of resistance against the regime. On the other hand, the former nun and her relationship with the local beggar, which clearly has a sadomasochistic dimension, will be indigestible for some even today. I consider The Nun's Night to be an extraordinary film in every respect, but one that is unfortunately quite forgotten. Overall impression: 95%.
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The insight into the mystical spiritualism of the 1950s is something wonderful, but the breadth and depth of the film is suffocating. Aware of the inverted signs from the practices of documentaries such as Neobyčejná léta (1952), Kachyňa is, for a change, explicitly moving. On the other hand, on this subject, Taussig had perhaps the only supporting thought of his life on the DVD, namely the observation that anyone who knew the truth knew it in the 1950s and didn't have to wait until the second half of the 1960s when the filmmakers woke up to it. When the younger generation was already somewhere else in their minds. That's why I'm sad that the only participants in the filming who returned to The Nun's Night today were Kraus and Havelková. That's just terrible.
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