Cas sluhu

One of the typically Czech unpleasant films, "The time of servants" is about a ruthless and selfish young woman destroying everything in her path until she destroys herself. It is the craftsmanship of the film-makers that succeeds in making you believe that she, through sheer cunning and gall, can get away with it until the very end.

The unpleasantness of a number Czech films is an interesting phenomenon. It was there during the most glorious period of the country's cinematography in the sixties ("A blonde in love" (1965)) but it was kept under control - just like in the best current films ("Kolja"). Is this a prevailing pessimism about the human nature, possibly a reaction against the patently untrue communist idea of the future perfect human being? Are they trying to say that if a film is pleasant it can't be true to life? Somehow, through misdirected intensity, they manage to make the whole film unpleasant instead of just the character that deserves it.