Directed by:
František VláčilCinematography:
František UldrichComposer:
Zdeněk LiškaCast:
Petr Čepek, Jan Kačer, Věra Galatíková, Zdeněk Sedláček, Zdeněk Kryzánek, Jana Hájková, Michal Kožuch, Ladislav Gzela, Petr Štěpánek, Josef Somr, Miloš Willig (more)Plots(1)
A young man is sent to live and study with a religious order when his father takes a young bride. When the son helps one of the noble knights at the order escape, he is expelled from the institution. (MUBI)
Reviews (9)
Bergman in a Czech version? At least that's how I see it, because Vláčil's gloomy and soiled vision of the Middle Ages brings him very close to the Swedish genius. Like the ceremonial nature of gesture and word, the weight of a single image that seems to say nothing and yet speaks through every detail. Körner's script is constructed masterfully, building a staircase stone by stone to the final tragedy that emerges from the almost harmonious celebration of medieval paganism. Čepek, Kačer and other actors from the Drama Club brought a touch of theatricality, slowness, emphasis on every word and act to the story. Zdeněk Liška, for his part, confirmed that he was an exceptional composer; however, sometimes strangely, his secular and religious musical accompaniment precisely colors a quietly buzzing drama about two sides of faith. Although The Valley of the Bees was quite ruthlessly stomped by New Wave, in time it proved the dominance of a complex artistic statement over the period filmmaking experiment. With all due respect to New Wave, this is just a class better.
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A film considered one of the best Czech films ever made. When I was watching it, I felt like I was watching Bergman. Slow but intensely gripping, with incredible acting performances that only enhance the power of the overall experience. It's one of those must-see films. It might leave you cold, and you might say it's for intellectuals, but still, somewhere deep down, you'll feel that it did something to you.
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A very precise and raw (often even brutal) film, visually enhanced by black and white cinematography and an authentic medieval setting. The acting performances of the main characters were convincing and the music by Zdeněk Liška complemented the powerful visuals perfectly. How far are we actually willing to go for what we believe in?
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From my point of view, a more impressive and perhaps also more successful film than Marketa Lazarová - perhaps because The Valley of the Bees was not as hard to understand, its script is not in any way "cryptic" (the monologues and dialogues from the pen of Vladimír Körner are undeniable) and the actions of the characters are easy to read. Petr Čepek is absolutely amazing, Jan Kačer is literally demonic... However, the one that has grown closest to my heart is Josef Somr in a small but important role. Zdeněk Liška's music is as beautiful as ever, but there is no point in praising Vláčil's direction to the heavens, as it has been there for a long time. A one hundred percent film.
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“My father promised me to the Order. To save his soul." If it weren’t for Herz’s year younger The Cremator, The Valley of the Bees would sit on the imaginary throne of Czechoslovak cinema. This way it is doomed to second place, but what can you do... And that shows amongst other things that I belong to the “barbarian riffraff" who consider this, Vláčil’s picture to be better than Marketa Lazarová (which is a bit of a paradox since The Valley of the Bees was only made to make use of the costumes and scenery left behind after it). The Bergmanesque proportions, the indescribably splendid camerawork (I will probably never get bored of the shot at the end with Ondřej disappearing into the darkness) and Liška’s score make watching this a wonderful experience for the mind, eyes and ears. And the actors are absolutely... We don’t see Petr Čepek on screen, but Ondřej of Vlkov. Nor do we see Jan Kačer (who currently stars in an awful Czech telenovela), but purely and simply Armin von Heide. The same applies for the others. OK? OK!
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