2024-09-30 00:09:29
For his daughters and loved ones Ivušek, for the rest of the republic Janžurka. The so-called documentary about the famous actress Iva Janžurová has just started showing in cinemas. It was filmed by her daughter Theodora Remundová. She wanted to avoid the usual format of reminiscences of well-known colleagues and reflections of the protagonist. Janžurová appreciates the approach. “No one will come up with anything new anyway, I didn’t want to lecture anyone,” she says.
Documentary filmmaker Theodora Remundová has always avoided the temptation to film about her mother. The possibility began to be considered only after the 80th anniversary of Ivy Janžurová. “That’s when I thought that there probably wouldn’t be anyone else who would represent me in this, and that I would have to do it myself. I know her from the closest experience and it occurred to me that the film should be made,” says the director. She wanted to capture her mother as a great personality. “It may sound strange when I say it myself. But even though everyone signs their children in some way, I have a really good experience with her,” she evaluates the mutual relationship.
The film is full of kind pokes, as well as Remundová’s unpleasant questions. “Why are you crying now?” he asks her, for example, when Janžurová walks into the kitchen of her family home in Žirovnica in Vysočina. As part of the filming, today the 83-year-old actress also returned to České Budějovice, where she studied high school, and also to 1968 or to her love relationships.
For this, Remundová used a box with her mother’s letters, which she “found” in the basement of the house. It is evident from the documentary that it was the confrontation with intimate correspondence that was most against the actress’s will. “I’d rather burn them all,” she says half-jokingly. She admits that sometimes she managed to get out of some unpleasant questions. “I made an excuse for something and we skipped the question,” she states.
As a criminologist
The director tried to proceed in such a way that her relationship with the protagonist did not turn the film into a celebratory marble portrait. “The pitfall is, of course, that one cannot be so cruel to a relative. It was difficult for me in that respect,” he admits. According to Janžurová, the daughter tried to prevent this with great diligence and responsibility. “She acted like a criminal investigator investigating a murder. She examined me from all angles over time and my profession. She looked for my classmates and friends from childhood according to various photographs, she was looking for evidence so that no one would accuse her of making a cute documentary about my mother full of praise and self-praise. I really liked that,” he appreciates.
Janžurová was said to be sure that she would not be able to lie too much in her daughter’s direction. “She directed me since childhood. When I was learning the role, she admonished me: You said this unnaturally, say it differently,” he adds.
Iva Janžurová is the holder of two Czech Lions, the Thalia and the Alfréd Radok Prize. | Photo: Cinepoint
Still, the actress believes that most of her personality has remained hidden despite the documentary. He believes that every person is so complex that they cannot be captured in any film. “When you are able to look at yourself critically, you will find that it is not possible to describe you in the whole range. Each person has thousands of secrets, depths, layers, often even he does not know what is stored in his subconscious,” he thinks.
She does not agree with her daughter on this. From her documentary practice, the essence of a person is most evident in how he acts and behaves towards the environment, people and nature.
Between me and the audience
This is also why Remundová wanted to avoid the method where her colleagues or friends talk about a famous personality or when the protagonist tries to talk about himself. Instead, she followed the observational method, approached almost unknown personalities, for example a friend from childhood, and above all gave Iva Janžurová the space to speak for her in ordinary situations such as getting up in the morning or measuring blood pressure. “A person has these powerful ideas about himself, but the reality is much simpler. It is basically how he behaves and how he deals with others,” Remundová responds to her mother.
She did not want the heroine of the documentary to “dive into illusions about herself”. And Janžurová is ultimately happy about it. “I wouldn’t want her to force me to interpret clever ideas. Today, anyway, nobody comes up with anything new, it’s enough to turn to Aristotle or Socrates, who have already said everything important. Actors remember some of their sentences well and then apply them in conversations. I’m with she was careful with that. I don’t want to lecture anyone,” she says.
At the end of September, Janžurová will have a screening of the documentary in her native Žirovnica, which will be complemented by a vernissage of the actress’s watercolor paintings. It was said to be sold out in 15 minutes.
The documentary received a warm response already at the festival in Karlovy Vary, but the actress is anxiously waiting to see how it will be received by a wide audience. “I want to verify that it has fulfilled the main goal, that it is about the human closeness between me and my audience,” he wishes.
He says the mission of the documentary is universal. “I believe that an important thing will emerge from the whole film – that we are terribly similar, that I belong to normal people and we have very similar problems. The most valuable thing about Theodora is that she managed to get it there. That I have it in me, I give it to people from the stage and take it back from them in favor,” he hopes.
At the same time, he apologizes to all those who agreed to the filming, but did not fit into the final cut. “I will now have to go around a number of people who let themselves be filmed out of love for me, but will not be seen in the film. Especially in Žirovnica, there are multitudes of those I will have to apologize to. I personally apologize to all of them,” he says.
Video: Trailer from the movie Janžurka
The film Janžurka is showing in cinemas from this Thursday. | Video: Falcon