Božena Šustrová

Dvořák's well-known composition reappears again and again in the serious moments of the lives of the father and son Hupeks - talented non-professional musicians for whom music gives them the opportunity to rise above difficulties and problems...

A romantic story of a noble lady who wanted to live without the bonds of marriage, but her desire for a child led her - carefully disguised - into the arms of a young nobleman. Only years later did she believe in his love and make herself known.

Mrs. Piskořová, co-owner of a debt-ridden boarding house, forces her daughter Klára to marry a wealthy elderly architect, Kacík, who has recently separated from his wife. However, Klára is in love with the waiter Prokop, who she does not know is actually a mining engineer. No one suspects that Klára's land, considered worthless, contains a coal deposit...

A lost lady's glove that connects several human destinies. The focus here is not on the lost part of the wardrobe, but on piano virtuoso Arne Brant, a man armed with a charming smile and surrounded by women, two of whom have particularly influenced his life. The first is the daughter of a famous can-can star, dancer Pavlína Doré-Zejdová, the second is Mařenka Berková, the main character of the film and a kind of Kristián in skirts. An orderly and well-bred daughter from an honorable family who lives her second life as a lady of high society. The lost glove complicates the situation for all of them considerably, but in the end she finds her rightful place, just like the heroes of the film...

A morally questionable lord comes to the aid of a working class man who is to be executed for speaking out about thieving rich scoundrels sticking it to the poor.

Ríša, a student of law, neglects his studies in favour of parties and pranks. His angry father refuses to continue helping him out of his debts. Ríša, however, is not entirely beyond hope. He decides to go and stay for a while with his uncle, a priest, who lives in Moravia, in order to prepare for his exams. He meets Helenka, the timid daughter of the local gamekeeper, at a village ball and is enchanted by her. The days pass and their idyllic relationship begins to tire Ríša. He begins to tell Helenka about his former debauched life the about the broken hearts of beautiful women. Helenka is hurt and refuses to see Ríša anymore. His uncle, the priest, is incensed at his behaviour and orders his nephew out of the house. Ríša tries desperately to find Helenka so he can make it up to her.

The doomed love of a city girl caught in the vise of poverty is detailed in Vavra’s fluid, romantic work, one of the most elegant creations of the Czech Modernist era... The film lingers over its characters’ habitats and haunts, finding psychological truths in what each owns or desires, and countering every Hollywood-ready scene of gleaming restaurants and dazzling penthouses with realist moments of employment lines and crammed flats. Vavra’s classical camerawork and aura of romantic defeatism give Virginity a force comparable to the master of this genre, Hollywood’s Frank Borzage. (BAM/PFA)