Summary
After seeing his dramatised parable Ezop (Aesop, 1969) barred from cinemas, Rangel Valčanov went on to create two feature films during the early years of Czechoslovakia’s era of “normalisation”: Tvář pod maskou (The Masked Face, 1970) and Šance (Chance, 1971). In making Tvář pod maskou, the experienced Bulgarian director devised his own subject matter and screenplay, and turned to a cast of Czech actors. Josef Somr plays photographer Pepek, who, with the help of his wife Sima (Luba Skořepová), earns his living by casting death masks. Friend Lojza agrees to have his mask cast while still living. Doctor Morávek, an acquaintance of both Pepek and Lojza, has advised that one needs such a mask to be able to examine one’s self during life. The time-consuming making of the mask evokes memories – not only those of Pepek and Sima, but most of all the recollections of Lojza. Long ago, he committed a murder for money. Ladislav Mrkvička stars in Valčanov’s motion picture about a man who in the end is destroyed by his hidden past.
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