House for Two

In 1987, the director Miloš Zábranský impressed with a psychological drama, whose protagonists are members of the Píšťala family. An aging mother and her two adult sons – Bóža and Dan – live in an old country house on the edge of Prague, where new concrete apartment blocks are being erected nearby. The two brothers, who are very different in character, work for a printer. While the older Bóža is silent, serene, and believes in God, the younger, foppish Dan is frivolous, both in how he lives his life and how he manages his money. Because nobody no longer wants to lend him anything, Dan buys his mother a birthday present with the money he got from selling a book he stole from the printer’s. The religiously inclined Bóža cannot countenance the theft. The rift between the two brothers is exacerbated by their relationship with their new colleague Magda. The young woman, whom Bóža is shyly in love with, allows herself to be seduced by the more direct Dan. She starts living with Bóža, but repeatedly fails to resist the charms of his brother, who doesn’t take the relationship seriously, however. Deeply affected by Magda’s infidelity, Bóža eventually becomes the victim of a tragic accident, which nonetheless looks like a symbolic self-sacrifice… Rudolf Ráž collaborated on the script for this simple story of relationships that gave the main actors – Jiří Schmitzer (Bóža) and Ondřej Vetchý (Dan) – a great chance to shine. The role of Magda was played by Ivana Velichová. At the time, Zábranský’s movie won over some film critics with its obvious spiritual impact. The character of a devout protagonist, who became a vehicle of urgent moral appeal for the author, was something totally extraordinary in Czechoslovak cinema. House for Two also makes reference to Catholicism in its imagery. The parable form, which was an increasingly popular means of communication with the viewer at the end of totalitarianism, was developed further by Miloš Zábranský in his next two films – Masseba (1989) and Stavení (House, 1990).