Un jour un chat

A psychedelic look at human nature and the different desires that each person in a small village have. A cat that is accompanied by a circus troupe enters a small village and exposes what each person feels by showing them in different colors of emotions. Many in this small village are selfish and self centered except for the romantic teacher. The director uses a range of colors to show the different elements of human behavior. The teacher played by Vlastimil Brodsky is a hopeless romantic that falls in love with Cassandra, a member of the performing circus.

Az Prijde Kocour/Cassandra Cat(1963) is for everyone of different age groups. The children see the cat as the bearer of truth and the giver of unlimited imagination. The adults in the village see the cat as a threat because they are fearful of that truth that sees beneath the lies. The only adult who is not threatened by the cat is the romantic teacher. The cinematography is excellent and the music is good.

Cassandra Cat(1963) is not very different from the films of Terry Gilliam especially Time Bandits(1981), and Brazil(1985). The romantic angle of Az Prijde Kocour(1963) reminds me in many ways of similar scenes in Brazil(1985). Cassandra Cat(1963) is an ageless film by one of the masters of the Czech New Wave, Vojtech Jasny. The ending of the motion picture is sad. Emilia Vasaryova is arousing and sweet natured in the role of Cassandra.

In a small town, Jan Werich is an amiable storyteller who tells the children about a fabulous cat who wear sunglasses. When his eyes are uncovered, anyone he looks at has their nature revealed by the color they turn. Up shows the cat, and raises havoc among the adults, particularly Jirí Sovák, the smarmy bureaucrat who understands everything, once it's dead.

It's one of those wobbly fantasies of the 1960s like THE SEVEN FACES OF DOCTOR LAO who attempt to exalt the honesty of children -- not that I saw much of that as a child. There are lots of special effects which nowadays look like director Vojtech Jasný and his staff got their hand on an optical printer for the first time. At the time, I'm sure this movie was pretty much state-of-the-art for Eastern Europe. It hasn't aged particularly well, but there's little doubt it will still appeal to children in its insistence that they and truth matter.

If seeing through someone's lies and deceit was as simple as the color they were projecting. Such is the case for this movie, which I watched under the title "The Cassandra Cat." In a small town in Czechoslovakia, a teacher is conveying the beauty of free thought, expression and art to his class, something that does not go over too well with the rigid and conservative hierarchy of the school's leadership. The teacher tells his kids about a cat with the ability to see through the veneer of someone's outer deception, painting them in vivid colors which clash mightily against the drab and cold backdrop of the town.

During this time, a lot of changes were happening in Czechoslovakia, especially from a social standpoint as the tenets of Soviet communism clashed with a desire for national democratic socialism. These sort of things happen when your country falls into an economic stagnation, which is visualized in the film as no one seems to really live a comfortable life. Ultimately, this film didn't see much of an audience for years as the country decided to keep its more rigid outlook on economics and free thought. Hence, this is why the film is so divisive.

The Cassandra Cat, as was once described in an old magazine many years ago, sees through the "bulls**t" that many people are projecting. If you take the glasses off the cat, your true colors come out so to speak. Red if you are in love, yellow if you are unfaithful, purple if you are a hypocrite and gray if you are dishonest. So yes, it would be quite scary to see this cat come into your town even under the guise of a whimsical performance troupe.

Ultimately, this movie speaks about the frailty of the human condition and how malleable it can be. As the final scene showcases, a person can change colors quite easily, especially when it comes to the less desirable colors of the Cassandra Cat's gaze. Only those with the purest of hearts can be the red color. Either way, its a great film to watch, witnessing how other countries were going through similar political and social turmoil like the United States.

And for all intents and purposes, the cat was adorable.

I first found this film on YouTube, a few months ago, by chance... Glad I did!

Have enjoyed many foreign films in past - mainly Japanese and Russian, and a few from other countries. This was the first film from Czechoslovakia I have ever watched (with English subtitles, of course). Except for the language, the people in this town could be from any small town... even from mid-1950's or early 1960's America. The everyday cares, joys & troubles, were much the same as most men, women and children have, the whole world over. But... When the Cat Comes... watch out! The cat has your (and mine) number.... A very beautiful and touching story - and the clever use of color, music, sound effects, was all quite well done. I just wished they could have screened this in school, when I was a 'wee lad'. Maybe it's high time they show good movies in the schools again! (In 1st grade, my teacher showed 'Journey to the Center of the Earth' with James Mason, in the class. I never forgot that!)

This film is from 1963, but it is a story as timely as ever. If only this cat would visit the halls of all the political leaders (in Wash. D.C., and elsewhere), things might get 'back on track'?! To bring world peace & understanding, maybe we should start by watching each other's films.... each other's STORIES. Films such as this deserve a wider audience, and I hope Criterion will add this to their list of foreign titles on DVD and Blu-ray... I would buy it again from them, gladly!

The Cassandra Cat was one of the cutest films of the Eastern Bloc Cinema; the film was created in 1963, five years before Prague Spring erupted, It tells the story of a Strange Cat that arrived in a Small town, and that Cat made many people crazy, I know that this movie was funniest. I love it, and the Actor who plays Diana. Her name was Emília Vasaryová she so beautiful, and I know that this movie was the best and I loved it; good performance and many characters are Charming; I know that many people didn't watch this movie, but I recommended it to watch because this film was beautiful and cute.