Don Juanok

Rather than a bawdy comedy, as the opening credits say, The Don Juans is lascivious, lecherous, lewd... But not so much that it is at least interesting due to that fact. It's just not what it used to be, Mr. Menzel. This film may appeal to the lustful older gentlemen who will be happy for every exposed breast or any other hint of titillation, but I can't think of anyone who would like it except them. And yet Jan Hartl is not bad at all and the opera setting is attractive enough to come up with a meaningful and funny story for them. I almost want to gloat that the film didn't go to the Oscars - I would have liked to see Jiří Menzel throwing sulfur at the envious American critics for a change. (2014.01.30)

Jiří Menzel is clearly an old lecher (fantasising about how young ladies willingly let themselves be groped by worn-out Don Juans) who likes zoom shots and women with large breasts, but not modern styles. That’s all well and good, but did he have to make a tasteless, humourless and unfocused feature-length film about it? Contact with the present is limited to the resigned statement “that’s just how it goes here” after the protagonist’s car is stolen right before his eyes. In short, everything is bad (because of the communists and privatisation), the world is going to hell and there is nothing we can do about it. So, let’s fuck! The sole characteristic of the female characters under the age of 40 is lasciviousness – with no inhibition or hesitation, each of them sleeps with the old, uncharismatic and unpromising theatre director. The only more distinctive, older female character is mentally ill (e.g. for no apparent reason, she steals and wrecks a car used in a bank robbery as it is happening), which, according to the film, is fine and that’s perhaps how post-menopausal women ordinarily behave. In terms of its narrative, the film is inconsistent in how it randomly changes perspective and the extent of knowledge and self-awareness (the non-conceptual use of statements directly to the camera are a gratuitous attempt to give the film a touch of modernity). The film’s dramaturgical impotence is manifested in the fact that no  matter how long it takes for something to happen, ultimately nothing happens with respect to the narrative. Most (!) of the scenes could have been cut out of the film without affecting the main storyline, since those scene neither cause nor condition anything, nor do they contribute to the development of the story. The film’s humour consists in, for example, someone bashing their head against a beam or throwing out their back. Conversely, if the film is supposed to get serious, someone necessarily has to die – no other reason for being serious is even considered. I can leniently look at this lewd defence of voyeurism only as a substitute for sexual activity at a later age, when it’s no longer really possible. It is obvious that The Don Juans was made for no other reason than the need to just make SOMETHING. 10% (2014.11.17)

Mr. Menzel, impressed by his experience directing for the Revolving Theatre and clearly enjoying the Baroque Theatre at Krumlov Castle, was also fascinated by opera and made something that should be a tribute to opera. In reality, however, it is a showcase of actors who only act because Menzel is the director. This film is not a tragedy, but it is not far from it. (2015.08.05)

The poster for the film is very confusing and it's clear to me that most people expected something a little different from Menzel. But on the other hand, I'm very glad that this is not another allegory for the lost loves of the summer of 1968, but the main theme is the opera scene in a small town. I must be getting old, but I didn't find anything downright objectionable about this. Hartl, Huba and Šafránková live their characters quite naturally, Menzel enjoys staging a small-town "Don Giovanni" in a newly discovered Baroque theater, and every now and then an inspirational breast is smuggled into the frame. Apparently, I'm on a drug called "Opera is fun." (2014.12.01)