Catalogue of Czech Television Programmes
An unusual story set in the late forties about love, dancing and survival. Jan Mayer, a young dance instructor diagnosed with tuberculosis, arrives at a sanitarium for treatment. He is not one to give in to adversity and starts fighting his illness using his innate optimism and his dancing. Gradually he wins over other patients who have been passively accepting the fate pushed on them by the strict institutional discipline. Even when Mayer's disease breaks out in all its force he does not give up, defiantly 'throwing down the gauntlet' before death in the form of a dance. Face to face with his own end, he personifies human courage and a positive approach to life.
HD | 101' | © 1994
director(s): Jaromil Jireš
producer(s): Czech Television
scriptwriter(s): Jiří Hubač
director of photography: Jan Malíř
cast: M. Dejdar, M. Kopecký, P. Rimský, P. Pelzer, J. Hlaváčová
original language: Czech
subtitles available: English, French