Summary
Jiří Svoboda brought his expressive directing to bear in this film adaptation of Jaroslav Havlíček’s novel Neviditelný (Invisible). The story, first published in 1937, takes place in the (fictional) east Bohemian town of Jesenice in the mid-1920s. The narrative’s protagonist is ambitious, rationalist engineer Peter Švajcar, who marries into the wealthy Hajn family for his own gain. Cyril, the insane brother of Petr’s father-in-law, causes symptoms of the family sickness to spread to Petr’s wife Soňa. Petr eventually loses everything he had so laboriously gained... The motion picture sees the director turn Havlíček’s grim indictment of small-town selfishness into a psychological horror and Petra Vančíková (Soňa) and Petr Čepek (Cyril) put in wonderful performances that intensify the tonality. Čepek’s acting is reminiscent of his main role in another Havlíček adaptation, Petrolejové lampy (Oil Lamps, 1971).
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