Nevinnost

Ich sage es mal so: Dieser Film sieht gut aus, er ist aber nicht gut. Hřebejk beherrscht sein Handwerk; er weiß, welche Schauspieler*innen er für seine Filme auswählen soll und welche Musik zu ihnen passt; er verwendet einfallsreiche Kameraperspektiven, die dazu beitragen, dass selbst ein gewöhnliches Gespräch interessant wirkt… Aber das Drehbuch, das diesmal Jarchovský geschrieben hat, ist fürchterlich. Ich habe eigentlich zwei (bis drei) Filme gesehen, deren Verbindung mir wahrscheinlich den Atem verschlagen sollte. Das ist aber nicht passiert. Während des letzten Drittels habe ich wirklich gelitten. Schade um Ondřej Vetchý, der hier praktisch nichts zu spielen hatte und immer nur Ondřej Vetchý war. Schade um Luděk Munzar, der völlig überflüssig war. Schade um Anna Geislerová, die nur ein paar Figuren aus ihrer Schauspielvergangenheit wiederholt hat. Zweieinhalb Sterne, die ich dem Film nur für Hřebejks Arbeit gebe, runde ich ausschließlich wegen Zita Morávková auf. Er hat sie aber nur mit Ach und Krach verdient. (13.01.2011)

Ein weiterer provinzieller Versuch ein komplexes psychologisches Familiendrama anzulegen, welches stellenweise ziemlich weltenbummlerisch aussieht, jedoch dieser Eindruck beschränkt sich auf eine ziemlich gut gestaltete Oberfläche. Es überrascht mich immer wieder, mit wie vielen erzählerischen Mitteln Hřebejk und Jarchovský in der Lage sind, Geschichten zu produzieren, die derart lau, steril und regelrecht geschlechtslos sind, sofern es um Dringlichkeit und Meinung geht. Sollte ich rühren an dem, dass der tschechische Film Innocence nicht vollends peinlich ist, denn die Schauspieler sind gut und es werden moderne Tools des Geschichtenerzählens verwendet? Umso dringt die kreative Hilflosigkeit, Undeutlichkeit sowie eine Absenz von fesselndem Rhythmus. Um Gottes willen, wann wird denn bei uns endlich etwas gedreht wird, was zumindest einem durchschnittlichen skandinavischen Drama über pathologische Phänomene in der Gesellschaft konkurrieren konnte? (24.01.2011)

While I don’t like comparing, a comparison with the Scandinavian movie The Hunt is at hand. It concerns a similar topic – the abuse of children. In this movie Jan Hřebejk really dug into it and the first half was flawless. Ondřej Vetchý, Anna Linhartová and Hynek Čermák showed really incredible acting performances. However, as soon as this part of the movie unexpectedly quickly closed, Aňa Geislerová entered the scene with the craziest character I’ve ever seen her play on TV and the whole movie suddenly entered a completely different dimension. I am not saying it was bad, I just think that these two ideas could easily function in two movies. And not just in one. (10.01.2016)

Like plucking the petals of a daisy: “I liked it, I liked it not, I liked it, I liked it not…“. On the positive side, I should consider only the fact that, whereas I want to immediately forget about other Czech films, I still have to think about Innocence a day after seeing it. In my opinion, the stylistic contamination in the final third of the film is justified by the transition from a dispassionate detective investigation to a subjective narrative. The film belatedly gets its narrator and information about his past is conveyed to us as quickly as possible. The imposition of a personal point of view is the first dirty trick perpetrated against the viewer, whose sympathies for the person confessing are subsequently destroyed by that person’s dubious actions. Was it a plan or a confluence of coincidences? Inconsistency. The first one freed the innocent with her body, the second one made accusations. Not only the sins are similar, but so are the causes. Indifference. The narrative strangeness of Innocence, which particularly gives rise to strongly ambivalent feelings at the end (the roles of the guilty and the victim contradict how they were presented in the film), is significantly more inspiring than the shallow social-criticism level, the disturbingly conspicuous framework of the screenplay and the inconsistent integration of the characters into the plot (if the mentally disabled son was supposed to represent unassailable innocence, why does he completely disappear from the scene toward the end?). Innocence is a problematic film with a lot of flaws, but it deserves attention. 75% (13.07.2014)

The idea of family dialogues and sweet-natured atmosphere is deeply rooted within me. So deeply rooted, that I would never attribute Innocence to the creative duo Hřebejk-Jarchovský. The script of the latter transforms from an innocent melodrama into a complex relationship-tragic fresco, where every dialogue has its firm place and no character appears in it just because. The trailer’s temptation of the Czech Lolita suddenly seems very misleading. Moreover, the way the story reveals its true nature is unprecedented in Czech circumstances. Hřebejk himself does not drag down the script with any usual softening, his perspective is exceptionally accurate this time in a suffocating image that emphasizes an unusually personal approach to the characters. In combination with excellent performances (led by the traditionally infallible Ondřej Vetchý and perfectly suited Hynek Čermák, who seems to be tailor-made for his role), this is a minor domestic film event that has quietly and unobtrusively arrived in cinemas, but now it can grow even more. 85% for a drama that only few would dare to attempt. (13.01.2011)