Intimate exposure – Intimní osvetlení (1965)

Directed by: Ivan Passer | 71 minutes | comedy, drama | Actors: Zdenek Bezusek, Karel Blazek, Miroslav Cvrk, Věra Křesadlová, Dagmar Redinová, Jaroslava Stedra, Karel Uhlík, Vlastimila Vlková, Jan Vostrcil

The Czech comedy ‘Intimate lighting’ (‘Intimní osvetleni’) (1965) is about Petr, a professional musician, who has not seen his childhood friend Bambas for years. Their paths parted after their studies. Despite the fact that he also has a degree from the conservatory, Bambas has not made it further than head of the music school in a small provincial town. He also accompanies the local amateur orchestra. At the invitation of Bambas, Petr will perform as a soloist with this orchestra. For this, he takes his younger girlfriend Stepa with him to the idyllic, rural home of Bambas (whose real name is Kaja), to spend a few pleasant days there before the performance takes place.

In ‘Intimate lighting’ we witness those friendly, homely scenes. We meet the children of Bambas – a wonderfully disarming boy and his slightly older and wise-cracking sister, Bambas’ wife and Bambas’ parents, who live with the family. We are at a funeral, where Bambas and his father provide the music, see the local village idiot chat with Stepa, who is bored to death, and how people in the countryside deal with an accidentally run over chicken. Of course it ends up on the table. There is actually no real main character, so we occasionally switch perspectives.

The film has an almost documentary character, the cast is so natural (largely amateurs, but debut director Ivan Passer (Prague, 1933) did cast real musicians). Passer keeps the scenes just a little longer than usual, which works humorously in an inventive way. One of the few professional actors is Miloš Forman’s then-wife Věra Křesadlová. She plays Petr’s girlfriend Stepa and is responsible for one of the most infectious fits of laughter ever filmed.

There isn’t much going on in ‘Intimate Lighting’ – just like in everyday life with ordinary people – that actually warrants a movie. Two friends who have lost touch reunite, get to know their family/partner, chat, reminisce and get drunk. Nice and fascinating, many people will think, but this is precisely where the strength of this film lies. In the everyday and the absence of conflict situations. You would expect that the arrival of the successful musician to his native village would bring about a change in the life of the backward Bambas, but nothing could be further from the truth. There may be jealousy, but if there is, it’s mutual. ‘Intimate lighting’ proves the deeply human feeling that you only appreciate what you have when you see it from another person’s perspective.

Despite the film’s deep-seated realism and lack of a climax, this film is much more precise than you might think at first. Each shot has been studied and has a function and meaning. The film was shot in beautiful black and white. There are scenes that you will never forget for a lifetime.

‘Intimate lighting’ is one of the films that came out during the heyday of the Czech New Wave. Ivan Passer, together with colleagues such as Miloš Forman, Jirí Menzel and Vera Chytilová (‘Daisies’), mentioned above, was fortunate to have the opportunity and need for this new crop of filmmakers. The films also achieved international success. In 1965, the first year that Czechoslovakia received an Oscar nomination at all, ‘Obchod na korze’ (‘The Shop on Main Street’) by Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos won in the category of best foreign film. A year later, Milos Forman was nominated for his ‘Loves of a Blonde’ (‘Lásky jedné plavovlásky’) and another year later, in 1967, Jiri Menzel won with ‘Closely Observed Trains’ (‘Ostre sledovanévlaky’). In 1968, Milos Forman received another Oscar nomination for his ‘The Fireman’s Ball’ (‘Horí, má panenko’) and that was the last time Czechoslovakia was recognized at the Academy for the time being. Such a succession of nominations, however, shows how important the Czech New Wave is in film history.

‘Intimate lighting’ is a lovely film about friendship and music, which shines in simplicity, but which makes it all the more impressive. At the same time, Passer also says something about the choices we make in life and how we look back on them later. With regret, resignation or joy. If you have the chance to see this gem of European cinema history, don’t miss it.