Whisper/Šeptej (1996)

Thursday / 19th October 2006 / 20:00

Czech Republic / 1996 / 82 minutes / director: David Ondříček / screenplay: David Ondříček, Jan Novák, Tomáš Mašín / cinematography: Alexander Šurkala / music: Jan P. Muchow, Colorfactory / editing: Petr Turyna / cast: Tatiana Vilhelmová (Anna), Martin Myšička (Kytka), Jan P. Muchow (Filip), Jan Čechtický (Speedy), Kateřina Winterová (Irma) /

With Whisper David Ondříček started a new trend in Czech cinema. On one hand he returns to the stylistic and thematic means used by the Czech New Wave directors - main characters played by non-actors, personal situations demonstrated through simple, almost trivial dialogues in which the relationships between characters are visible best. On the other hand Whisper introduces a new city aesthetics and values shared by dance music fans. the plot of the film is Nevertheless directly connected with Forman´s 1965 Loves of a Blonde. The main character Anna (Tatiana Vilhelmová) leaves the village and heads to Prague to free herself from the dominance of her father-colonel. Just like the character of Andula in Loves of a Blonde, Anna starts with euphoria brought by life in the city with all its reckless and dandy style, only to realize later that under the surface, reality is quite different.

Anna finds herself in the capital for a couple of days and gradually discovers the pros and cons of the mondaine life of a group of young people, especially of two brothers Speedy and Filip. Filip becomes Anna´s guide in the Babel of free life and showy parties, as well as of personal problems of the young people in Prague.

Whisper opened in 1996 as a promising debut of David Ondříček (the son of Forman´s director of cinematography Miroslav Ondříček) though from a certain point of view it stays somewhere between a film with sovereign generation statement and a film that goes back to the tradition of Czech New Wave inspired by cinéma vérité. The film´s name alludes to something incommunicable, a series of forbidden topics about which people do not talk or about which Czech cinema and young filmmakers were remaining silent at least. In the relationship between a naive and simple-minded Anna and the group of city dandies the question of different values arises - individuality, fight for survival and pleasures stand against Anna´s sincerity, kind-heartedness and altruism.

Ondříček´s debut, though sometimes naive, full of cliché and uneasiness, can be seen as the first manifesto of the new aesthetics of 90s generation of filmmakers - it reflects fascination with dance music (leading male characters are played by members of the bands Ecstasy of St. Theresa and Ohm Square), easiness and "drifting" of the city teenagers, together with emancipation of homosexuals. Key role is played by civil dialogues that touch at crucial feelings and ideas shared by the generation that are nevertheless difficult to express. With this film the so called "Losers´ Films" wave announces itself. Films that later create plot cliché and tend to be shallow sometimes (24, Brouk v hlavě, Cabriolet).

With Whisper Ondříček portrayed the generation of people around twenty. His latter film Loners is a more stylized and more confused image of thirty-something city people with settled habits and values.

Pavel Bednařík