Marcela

Last year, Czech Television broadcast a six-part series of documentaries by Helena Třeštíková called Marriage Stories, 20 Years Later. Following her subjects over time, the director charted the fates of six married couples from the time of their wedding in 1980 up to the present day. In one of the documentaries entitled Marcela and Jiří, the couple's biggest ambition was to get their own flat. This didn't work out and their problems started to mount. As the couple became estranged, Helena Třeštíková began to focus more on Marcela and her daughter, returning to their lives on a continual basis. She observed them with the thoroughness of a sociologist but with the sensibility of a friend who crops up at difficult moments. After Marcela's daughter dies, Třeštíková makes another film by adding her subsequent meetings with Marcela to the original instalment of the Marriage Stories series. The tragic events of Marcela's life have driven her to contemplate suicide, which is only countered by the responsibility she feels for her only son. Třeštíková also reveals how Marcela is affected by the popularity she has enjoyed since the documentary was broadcast.