Go Back to Your Grave!

Milan Šteindler, 1989

Film at Filmový přehled

Summary

This tragicomedy about the pitfalls a man entering “Christ’s age” may encounter was Milan Šteindler’s first work as a director. Among the prominent playwrights of the Sklep Theatre, he further demonstrated his talent by creating a “traditional” narrative. With a significant contribution from screenwriter Halina Pawlowská, Vrať se do hrobu (Go Back to Your Grave!, 1989) differs in both form and style from films made by other Sklep ensemble members: for example, the mosaic Pražská 5 (The Prague Five, 1988) and the rhythmical Kouř (Smoke, 1990) by Tomáš Vorel and the audio-visual feérie Don Gio (1992) by brothers Michal and Šimon Caban. Yet Šteindler’s film is still a generational work, whose main character wages an exaggeratedly comic battle with his groundlessness and mental complexes stemming from life under the previous regime. Sociologist Víťa Jakoubek (Milan Šteindler) has both a job and a family but neither satisfies him. When at last given an independent research project – to examine the marking system for high school leavers – he jumps at the chance and, relying on his youthful looks, pretends to be a new student in class. The scientist’s cover is known only to the school’s director while its staff and students haven’t a clue. However, the research becomes slightly derailed: the thirtysomething man finds the return to his adolescence much too enticing and starts leading a double life. His high-school alter ego soon begins to impact Víťa’s family life. An affair with a schoolmate named Eva (Klára Pollertová) suddenly seems more comprehensible than his relationship with wife, Jana (Dana Batulková). However, since morality is at stake, the truth about the central character is revealed and his new friends send the scientist where they think he belongs: to the grave… This likeable, unjustly neglected film is both clever and humorous entertainment. Halina Pawlowská, with whom Šteindler also collaborated in the making of another tragicomedy, Díky za každé nové ráno (I Thank You for Each New Morning, 1994), makes a cameo appearance as a cleaner, while Jaroslav Dušek plays Víťa’s much too talkative colleague Horálek, in the first of his many portrayals of obnoxious officials.
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Film data

About a film

Production year 1989
Countries Czechoslovakia
Categories film
Genres comedy
Form feature
Duration 96 min
Director Milan Šteindler
Cast Milan Šteindler, Dana Batulková, Klára Pollertová, Kryštof Koláček, Matěj Peprník
Director of photography Miroslav Čvorsjuk
Screenplay Halina Pawlowská, Milan Šteindler
Editor Věra Flaková
Production designer Jindřich Goetz
Music Miloslav Halík
Sound designer Tomáš Janeček