A faded star crashes into the New Hollywood era — and the camera doesn't love her back.
Who wouldn't want to return to the limelight? Years ago, actress Slávka Hradilová was a movie star. Today, she is approaching 60 and the most she does is appear in commercials. But she still keeps in shape. She regularly meets with friends to help them solve their problems, enjoys her teenage granddaughter, but above all she longs to get a big role in front of the movie camera again. When one day she gets an offer with a script in hand, she beams and heads to the studios where she was once almost a queen. But it turns out that times have changed, and today's directors want something different from actors than routine gestures and flashy facial expressions. So the former star is in for a profound disappointment...
Acting
Štěpničková plays vanity and vulnerability in the same breath.
Direction
Hanibal weaponizes silence against his own protagonist.
Director
Jiří Hanibal
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during the Prague Spring's aftermath, the film's critique of institutional power was likely read as political allegory.
Jiřina Štěpničková was a genuine 1930s-40s star; this was essentially her Sunset Boulevard moment playing herself.
XC
