Thirty-three Silver Quails

In 1964, old directing hand Antonín Kachlík created a relationship drama about a woman who looks back on her life after reaching the “Jesus year” (Jesus is said to have been crucified at the age of 33). The narrative is based on a novel by Jan Trefulka, while the film’s protagonist, Jana Hanáková, is played by Alena Vránová. At 33, she is married and has two children, but family life does not satisfy her. Her alienation is not compensated either by her lover Karel or her relationships with colleagues at work. All around her, Jarka sees only shallowness and deceit. Trefulka and Kachlík, who collaborated on the screenplay, do not try to find a way out for the unhappy Jana. They construct the plot as a statement on a desolate condition which the young woman is herself partly responsible for. The critical approach of Třiatřicet stříbrných křepelek (Thirty-three Silver Quails) meant it came to be regarded as a motion picture heralding even more successful and forthright films of 1960s Czechoslovak cinematography.