Marketa Lazarová
Marketa Lazarová • 2h 45m
Directed by František Vláčil • 1967 • Czechoslovakia
Starring Magda Vášáryová, Josef Kemr, František Velecký
In its native land, František Vláčil’s MARKETA LAZAROVÁ has been hailed as the greatest Czech film ever made; for many U.S. viewers, it will be a revelation. Based on a novel by Vladislav Vančura, this stirring and poetic depiction of a feud between two rival medieval clans is a fierce, epic, and meticulously designed evocation of the clashes between Christianity and paganism, humankind and nature, love and violence. Vláčil’s approach was to re-create the textures and mentalities of a long-ago way of life, rather than to make a conventional historical drama, and the result is dazzling. With its inventive widescreen cinematography, editing, and sound design, MARKETA LAZAROVÁ is an experimental action film.
Up Next in Marketa Lazarová
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Peter Hames on MARKETA LAZAROVÁ
Film historian Peter Hames has written extensively on Central and Eastern European cinema. The following interview with him about MARKETA LAZAROVÁ was conducted in London in 2013.
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Antonín Liehm on MARKETA LAZAROVÁ
In the following interview, conducted in Paris in 2013, journalist and film critic Antonín Liehm discusses his friend and compatriot director František Vláčil.
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Marketa’s Actors
This interview program features Marketa Lazarová stars Magda Vášáryová, Ivan Palúch, and Vlastimil Harapes. The interviews were conducted in Bratislava and Prague in 2013.
