Summary
In 1969, director Karel Kachyňa and screenwriter Jan Procházka continued their collaboration via this hospital drama, telling the story of an ageing professor looking back over his life after major surgery. Jindřich Šimek has little reason for nostalgia: in the 1950s, he was jailed for many years as a supposed enemy of the communist regime. He lost his career and his family disowned him. The patient focuses on an unknown girl appearing on the roof of a building visible through a hospital window. He becomes fixated on the figure, and begins to plan a bright future with her… This intimate, somewhat poetic psychological drama offered a great acting opportunity for Vladimír Šmeral. Směšný pán (A Ridiculous Gentleman, 1969) is unusual for its direct exploration of Stalinist repression. It was to be was the penultimate “unrestricted” work of Procházka and Kachyňa. After Ucho (The Ear, 1970), the skilled duo would never again be offered the opportunity to work together.
Read more
