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Marketa Lazarova Movie Review

Marketa Lazarova is a 1967 Czech historical film directed by Frantisek Vlacil. It’s a technically admirable achievement, but otherwise not my cup of tea.

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The film takes place in an indeterminate time during the Middle Ages, and it tells the story of a daughter of a feudal lord who is kidnapped by neighboring robber knights and becomes a mistress of one of them. Apparently, the film is great for history enthusiasts as it portrays the Middle Ages in a very accurate, realistic fashion. And that I admire about it, but again it might be a bit too grounded in reality.

I am talking about its disgusting sexism, which was obvious throughout the film’s runtime, and the movie’s emphasis on the raw, animalistic nature to humans and all the dirt and horrid things that define this time period did not appeal to me personally.

I found the characters very underdeveloped, though the acting is admittedly very strong and some of the actors’ faces are full of expression and emotion. But the characters that they play are so weak and forgettable when all is said and done.

What Marketa Lazarova excels at clearly is the atmosphere of the film. It is unmistakably dark and very spooky, accompanied by such an amazing, very creepy orchestral score repeated throughout and perfectly intensifying all of the accompanied sequences.

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The same goes for the cinematography. The stark black-and-white aesthetic is beautiful, the movie’s attention to detail is arresting and the use of snow and wolves is particularly striking. The movie is like a moving piece of art, I cannot deny that. It’s a shame then that the excessive runtime and a slow pace and an increasingly gruesome nature to it made it a chore to sit through. But it may benefit from a repeat viewing some time in the future.

Marketa Lazarova is unmistakably immensely powerful in its stark black-and-white cinematography, a spooky orchestral score, a fantastic attention to detail and greatly utilized wolves and snow. It’s an artistic, admirable film that is still a chore to sit through owing to an excessive runtime, a very slow pace, obviously sexist overtones, and an overly dark and gruesome nature to it.