Coup de soleil

Marcelline is an actress. Forty, single and childless, she begins rehearsals for Turgenev’s A Month in the Country. Denis, the director, admires her greatly and promises he’ll make her happy on stage — she will shine. But things don’t go to plan.

For her first television film, director Vera wants the perfect cast. But the first day of shooting is fast approaching and the numerous casting sessions have yet to find a suitable actress to play the leading role. Although the producer and crew are getting ever more exasperated with Vera, Gerwin is happy about the extra work, as he earns his money as an audition reader, delivering the lines of dialogue to the starry candidates at the various castings. When the male lead suddenly has to back out, Gerwin thinks that this might just be his chance.

As a group of university students go out for a night on the town, a sophomore known only as "The Girl with Black Hair" experiences a series of surreal encounters with the local nightlife – all the while unaware of the romantic longings of "Senpai", a senior student who has been creating increasingly fantastic and contrived reasons to run into her in an effort to win her heart.

When Berke Landers, a popular high school basketball star, gets dumped by his life-long girlfriend, Allison, he soon begins to lose it. But with the help of his best friend Felix's sister Kelly, he follows his ex into the school's spring musical. Thus ensues a love triangle loosely based upon Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream", where Berke is only to find himself getting over Allison and beginning to fall for Kelly.

1927. The place is Kalmar and the Grossman family home. A hungover manufacturer Julius Grossman and his wife Solveig are waiting at home for their daughter Betty to arrive by train from the capital. To their great surprise, she arrives in a car with her suitor Greger in tow. What's more, she seems to be full of contemporary trends and modern ideas about marriage, among other things. Her father Julius would rather see her marry his business partner Hilding and thus retain control of the company. Hilding is a dull, somewhat dreary, and slightly overage bachelor who suddenly becomes every woman's dream prince when a rumor begins to circulate that he had a relationship with the famous movie star Rita Ray in his youth.

After a catastrophic global war, a young filmmaker awakens in the carnage and seeks refuge in the only other survivor: an eccentric, ideologically opposed figure of the United States military. Together, they brave the toxic landscape in search of safety... and answers.

In a supermarket, in the sofa section, director Fabien Romains comes to choose the sofa that will be the main feature of the set for his next play. Priscilla Gabor, his ex-wife, who stars in the play, insists on deciding for herself which sofa she will rest her buttocks on. Edouard Le Tellier, the play's author and producer, and the actress's current husband, pretends to be interested in the debate. Finally, Olivier Leblanc, the salesman, who has always dreamed of acting, sees these visitors as a chance to promote himself.

Members of the Camorra on the run and actors seeking for authority meet after a shipwreck on an island-prison. The theatre turns into a free zone where everyone may not be able to recover their social role but for sure their humanity. Somebody can even get love back. Shakespeare and Eduardo De Filippo blend together in a picaresque comedy full of coup de théâtre.

The film is based on the stories Anton Chekhov. It is a tribute to the actor Boris Andreyev. He plays a major role that keeps up for the duration of the film. Lively and intelligent Valery Spout largely mitigates underline the drama of the protagonist, while Michael Sveta's role, though small, is bright and memorable.

In 1972, Czechoslovak Television recorded a performance by the Vinohrady Theatre, which was very well received. Moliere's comedy The Miser was staged on a turntable, but in period costumes and scenery, without any hint of updating, in a traditional translation. However, it was modern and contemporary mainly thanks to the stage direction of Jaroslav Dudek and the excellent acting performances of the main actors, led by Miloš Kopecký in the role of Harpagon. His civil speech, which was not devoid of majesty, anger, imperiousness, dislike and lack of feeling towards those closest to him, was supported by the equally precise performance of Jaromír Hanzlík and Daniela Kolářová in the roles of his children, Jiřina Bohdalová as the matchmaker, and the other actors. The comedy in their performance is timeless and will delight lovers of classical theatre even today.