Summary
In the 1960s, director Otakar Vávra made three remarkable films inspired by the work of writer and poet František Hrubín. In addition to Srpnová neděle (August Sunday, 1960) and Romance pro křídlovku (Romance for the Bugle, 1966) there is the poetic drama Zlatá reneta, which took its inspiration from the poet’s eponymous retrospective novella. Even though Hrubín contributed to the making of this film, most of the credit for the quality of the nostalgic narrative about the impossibility of turning back the tide of time rests with the director, 54 at the time. In the part of an ageing man returning to his native village after many years away, only to become mired in memories of his first love (Eva Límanová), the director provided an attractive acting opportunity for a master of the craft Karel Höger. The film’s poetic style fits very well with motion pictures of the Czechoslovak New Wave made in the 1960s by Vávra’s students from Prague's FAMU film school. Zlatá reneta (The Golden Queening) achieved success representing Czechoslovak cinema in collecting the Golden Shell, the highest award at the international film festival of San Sebastian, as well as the FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics) and CIDALC (Comité International du Cinema Educatif et Culturel) prizes.
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