Movie Details
Movie: Prezidentka (2022)
Director: Rudolf Havlík
Cast: Anna Geislerová, Ondrej Vetchý, Veronika Khek Kubarová
Release date: June 23, 2022.
IMDB Rating: 4.9/10
Languages: Czech and English
Duration: 1h 37m
Trailer
Synopsis
Many romantics have tried, with varying degrees of success, to show that finding and maintaining a functional relationship while holding a top political (or similarly prominent) position is quite a complex matter. Rudolf Havlík’s new film approaches this somewhat differently – it presents a perhaps almost childishly naive vision that an unbalanced relationship at the highest level actually does not represent any problem at all; that is, unless the script decides at certain random points that this is suddenly a problem.
In the prologue, we meet the politician Kateřina Čechová, and her very name reveals not only the author’s laziness, but also an obvious reluctance to try to work at least a little creatively with the expected motives. Čechová announces her candidacy for the presidency to her daughter, who is going to study in London. Its almost unspoken goal is a return to Havel’s humanist values and the restoration of lost dignity to presidential majesty. So be it. In practice, however, this means that Anna Geislerová only has to look dignified and, in nice costumes, deliver perhaps intentionally empty declamations about the power of unity and civil society.
The script does not show any attempt to gain insight into the political backstage, the haggling of the president’s secretaries (played by Veronika Khek Kubařová and Juraj Loj), on the contrary, fully reveals the attempt to portray politics as child’s play. In contrast, Petr builds real values in the limited space of his microworld, the embodiment of all existing positive values. Sculptor, husband of the hour, lover of animals and nature, widower devoted to his late wife, professing evening puffs from a pipe on the terrace – and all this wrapped in the masculine features of Ondřej Vetchý.
After a while in office, President Čechová, who is presented in a humane way, but somewhat bored, is tired of dealing with politicians and physical training under the guidance of her new head bodyguard (Vanda Chaloupková), so one evening she takes a wig and runs away from Prague Castle. Everything goes quite smoothly, you only need to hide around the corner a few times in the corridor, and when you leave (or later return) to the best-guarded building in the country, no one asks you anything.
The central idea that it makes sense to repair old and broken things, the characters prefer to repeat several times to make it clear that it concerns not only relationally wounded heroes, but also the tarnished reputation of state institutions. However, the conservatively optimistic message is suffocated by a lot of empty dialogue, which alternates with incomprehensible or downright cringe moments – which are dominated by the non-judgmental singing of the hymn by the Christmas tree.
It would also be possible to analyze the inconsistent work with gender stereotypes in more depth, because although some female characters try to break out of pre-prepared boxes, in the end they have no choice but to pair up with the closest counterpart (which in one case takes on an alarmingly turn). But most of all – the film is really hopelessly boring, long-winded, empty and ends at the moment when it should really start.
In recent years, Havlík’s work has been dominated by a duo of sexist comedies What Men Want , but the current Prezidentka is closest to his older film Fairy Tales for Emma . In addition to the identically cast central couple, there is also an effort not to complicate the template of a romantic comedy with annoying realism or everyday problems, so the plot is undemanding, the set (led by the Malostran panoramas) is polished, the camera is clear and overall, in a similar way, it is sometimes ridiculously naive, for occasional moviegoer, however, with a non-conflicting relaxing spectacle. What with the fact that the few predictable twists are completely wasted and that the film ends before it actually begins – an hour and a half of nice moving pictures passes .
Watch For Free On Filmy4Wap