Pleasant Moments

Psychologist Hana has problems in both her private and professional life: her unemployed husband is jealous of her work and, one day, he finds himself a “better” partner; her pubertal son is just interested in playing computer games. It doesn’t help that dozens of frustrated couples and lonely people pass through her clinic who – like Hana – are trying to find a sense of balance and happiness in a chaotic world governed by the war of the sexes, the loss of solid moral values and the relentless passing of time. Through her heroine, experienced filmmaker Věra Chytilová adopts a bitter yet humorous approach to track the collision of human relationships rooted deep in the destabilised heart of Czech society. The screenplay of this episodic narrative was written in collaboration with psychologist Kateřina Irmanovová who drew on her own professional experience. “Filmmakers have certain obligations towards their era,” states Chytilová. “I’m trying to discover why we are incapable of taking a dispassionate view, why we are all self-centred. I hope that the film is a reflection of today’s society. We all have our own problems but we have to be aware that it is up to us to decide what we do with our lives.” (source: catalogue Karlovy Vary IFF)