Juraj Herz| Czechoslovakia 1972, 99 minutes |
11am, Saturday 22 July
Replete with Goth-approved clothing and surrealistic imagery, this fanciful tale of two vastly different sisters will tickle all right pleasure receptors on those who like their costume dramas to have a malevolent edge to them. – House of Self Indulgence
Iva Janžurová puts in a tour-de-force performance as twin sisters Klára and Viktoria, the latter hell-bent on doing away with the former, in this deliciously overripe adaptation of Aleksandr Grin’s 1929 novel Jessie and Morgiana. With froufrou costuming and opulent production design informed by Herz’s enthusiasm for the work of Gustav Klimt, cinematographer Jaroslav Kučera has a field day with wide-angle lenses and employing prismatic colour effects exceeding even those found in his earlier films with Věra Chytilová. Features an eerie soundtrack by the brilliant Luboš Fišer. For lovers of cats and camp.
Co-Presented with The Czech and Slovak Film Festival and the Australian Cinémathèque.
This is a free screening taking place at the Australian Cinémathèque, GoMA, as part of The Gothic Fantasies of Juraj Herz retrospective.
D Juraj Herz S Vladimír Bor and Juraj Herz from Alexander Grin P Ladislav Hanus C Jaroslav Kucera E Jaromír Janácek
Language: Czech with English Subtitles
Distribution: National Film Archive 35mm
Unrated 15 +
