Czech Film Center

Synopsis

Adolescence is never easy, especially when it’s 1968, the streets outside are overrun with foreign tanks,
and you’ve got a constant stream of fathers of varying positions at home. And mom, despite her inner
strength, can hardly keep up. How could one live through such conditions and survive in the already-
challenging 1970s? How did one manage to keep loving life, feeling love and their sense of humor? Irena
Pavlásková’s chilling comedy An Earthly Paradise for the Eyes answers that.
The main plotline follows the story of Marta (Vilma Cibulková), her two teenage daughters – Majda and
Gábina (Dana Marková and Tereza Voříšková), and a string of incoming and outgoing “fathers” (Jiří Dvořák,
Miroslav Etzler, Jan Zadražil, Ondřej Vetchý).
While some of these “fathers” successively try to at least reverse the course of Czech history, Marta and
her daughters resist the upshots and consequences that their attempts inevitably produce under the
Communist regime. The world of “big politics” and big goals thereby clashes, complements and blends
with everyday reality. And was there a fair share of merry moments during all this? Indeed, for appreciating
irony and having a sense of humor were crucial components of all survival kits at that time, as they gave
one the strength, will and desire to live and to prevail over self-destruction.
The plot covers a critical decade in recent Czech history – beginning on the eve of the Soviet occupation
of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and ending with the Charter 77 persecutions – hence a period that marked the
second era of darkness in 20th century Czechoslovakia after the Nazi occupation. The authentically
narrated story will capture audiences for its truth and subtle personal drama, whilst cheering their spirits
and touching their hearts, too.