Regie:
Miloslav ŠmídmajerDrehbuch:
Miroslav BuberleKamera:
Martin DubaMusik:
Petr MalásekBesetzung:
Jiří Mádl, Tereza Ramba, Petr Nárožný, Václav Postránecký, Zlata Adamovská, Martin Stránský, Betka Stanková, Jan Skopeček, Václav Vydra nejml. (mehr)Inhalte(1)
A hilarious fairy tale about a stubborn princess and a clumsy prince with lots of real and pretend devils who really know how to make life complicated! Princess Anette refuses to marry Prince Jerome from the neighboring kingdom. The children were engaged to each other in a pact to form a military alliance with Jerome’s father, King Frederick. Anette’s father, King Leopold, would like to save his daughter from this undesirable wedding, but he cannot break his royal vow without starting a war with Frederick, whose army is much stronger. Leopold thinks up a spectacular illusion: He sends a dispatch to Frederick explaining that Lucifer himself is vying for the hand of the princess. He could not have known about the avalanche of unpredictable consequences he was unleashing which includes not only the rage of hell, but also of Hellcathie, the jealous bride of Lucifer himself… (Verleiher-Text)
(mehr)Kritiken (4)
Less of a hell than expected, which is a big hit for modern Czech fairytale standards.
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Together with Angel of the Lord, this is the highest quality Czech fairy tale film of the last decade. Which, considering the poor fairy tale production of the Czech film industry, is not that much of a win. Angel of the Lord has somewhat better dialogues, but It Is Hell with a Princess looks more cinematic than its competitor, which is more suitable for television screens. It lacks the embarrassingly greasy and worn-out dimension of Troška's films, but Šmídmajer's film suffers from an overall lack of refinement. It needed more work on dialogues and the script, and it needed a much higher budget, which would have allowed for casting quality actors even in minor roles, improved the set design, and offered the viewers a few quality special effects. I also had a problem with Jiří Mádl. I acknowledge that he has undisputed advantages for a certain age group and gender, but he didn't fit the role of a prince in my opinion. I acknowledge Jan Skopeček and Petr Nárožný as excellent actors, but unfortunately, both of them are past their prime, and if, for example, Nárožný carried a fairy tale twenty years ago, today he is more of a passenger. Overall impression: 60%. It Is Hell with a Princess also suffers from the traditional flaw of Czech fairy tales, which is the absence of real evil, weakening the dramatic tension.
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The basis of the fairy tale is very decent, and I was very pleasantly surprised (again) by Alžbeta Stanková as the devil woman Muribana, who once again proved that overacting in the style of Bugyna is fortunately passé. Postránecký, Nárožný, Adamovská, and Táborský are excellent, and the production design is very sympathetic. It all fits together nicely, but when the Voříšková/Mádl duo come on screen, they absolutely ruin everything good. Unfortunate.
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Man weiß fast nicht, was man als Erstes kritisieren soll. Ob die schrecklichen Schauspielleistungen (der wie immer dumme Jiří Mádl, der fast wie immer peinliche Jiří Pecha, der überraschend unerträgliche Miroslav Táborský…), das fürchterliche und einfallslose Drehbuch ohne richtige Witze (als ich im Abspann gesehen habe, dass der Drehbuchautor mit Marie Poledňáková zusammengearbeitet hat, habe ich verstanden, woher die "Zufälle" in der Geschichte herkommen, die alles schrecklich kompliziert gemacht haben), eine der schlimmsten Höllen aller Zeiten und die lächerlich billigen Masken der Teufel (der arme Martin Stránský), die ungeeignete Musik von Malásek, die überwältigend wirken soll, oder die Regie ohne Ideen? Am Anfang hat man gemerkt, dass sich die Filmemacher bemüht haben, ein Märchen im Stil von Mit dem Teufel ist nicht gut spaßen zu drehen. Pfff, weit gefehlt, liebe Freunde. Ich mag Märchen. Sie müssen aber gut sein. Dieses Märchen ist es nicht. Ich habe es mir nur wegen Petr Nárožný bis zum Ende angeschaut.
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