Beauty in Trouble (Kráska v nesnázích)

Year: 2006
Country: CZECH REPUBLIC
Run Time: 110 minutes

In the aftermath of catastrophic floods in Prague, Jarda (Roman Luknár) had resorted to stealing cars to provide for his increasingly dissatisfied wife Marcela (Anna Geislerova) and their two young children, Lucina and Kuba. But little can be done fast enough to save them from the dust and squalor, which is becoming ever more harmful to Kuba's asthma. When Jarda's dim-witted partner steals a Mercedes with a tracking device (owned by the well-to-do but compassionate vintner Evzen Benes), the police imprison Jarda, leaving Marcela completely fed up. Hoping to shelter the kids from their father's criminal behavior, Marcela moves her family into the small apartment of her mother Zdena, much to the dismay of Marcela's curmudgeonly stepfather "Uncle" Richard. All seems hopeless until Marcela runs into Benes, who is immediately smitten by her beauty, at the police station. Can Marcela forget her husband and be swept away into a life of luxury by this man twice her age? Hrebejk's BEAUTY IN TROUBLE (31st CIFF) - the title is an allusion to both a Robert Graves poem and a 1980's Czech pop song - uses aptly chosen music as poignant commentary on this nuanced human drama. (In Czech with subtitles) –E.J.B.

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