Catalogue of Czech Television Programmes
The contemporary story about an inconspicuous older woman reveals minor human dramas about the fight for survival, for love and family life hidden in the seemingly ordinary world around us.Jarmila Kukačová works as a lowly hospital auxiliary in Prague, and has been living with her partner Pepa for years, commuting to his home in the country every weekend. Pepa is totally under the thumb of his domineering mother. Jarmila accepted her humble position in the family with humility at the time when she became an unpaid maid in this household. She looks after the mother and the son and is more than generous towards them though living most modestly herself. To be able to offer financial aid also to her adult children and grandchildren, she takes on cleaning jobs at the homes of her better-situated acquaintances. She overcomes the problems of everyday living with her innate cheerfulness and humour, but her soul is sensitive and fragile. She is threatened with the loss of her Prague apartment and could even lose her home with Pepa because he is having an affaire with a local waitress. Jarmila has to start battling for her position, her love – in fact for the whole of her future. Her natural wisdom and strength, her humour and tenderness are her magic weapons and become a medicine for others.
SD | 75´ | © 2002
director(s): František Filip
producer(s): Czech Television
scriptwriter(s): Sabina Remundová
director of photography: Vladimír Opletal
cast: Iva Janžurová, Jiří Lábus, Stella Zázvorková and others
original language: Czech
subtitles available: English