TIFF Review: Beauty in Trouble

Based upon the evidence I've seen so far in Toronto -- the Romanian drama The Way I Spent the End of the World and Beauty in Trouble, the very accomplished new feature from Czech director Jan Hrebejk and his frequent collaborator, writer Petr Jarchovský -- the recent resurgence of cinema in Eastern Europe continues unabated. Different in every way from the truly awesome The Way I Spent the End of the World, Beauty in Trouble nevertheless shares with that film a combination of attention to detail and confidence of vision, and is also impressive, albeit in a smaller way.

A complex look at the power and changeability of intimate relationships, Beauty in Trouble comes disguised as a sweet, simple love story. After the devastating Prague floods of August 2002, Jarda (Roman Luknár) and Marcela (Anna Geislerová) find themselves in dire financial straits: Their home suffered severe water damage and, lacking insurance, they have no way to pay for repairs. With two kids, Jarda's mother to feed and the added pressure of unrelenting mortgage payments, they're desperate; to put food on the table Jarda joins a ring of car thieves, and works cutting the cars down into salable parts. Though she knows they need the money, Marcela is unable to handle the fact that her husband is a criminal and leaves him, taking the kids and moving in with her mother and abrasive step-father.

Through a comical series of circumstances involving prison and a stolen car, Marcela meets Evzen Benes (Josef Abrhám, whose easy natural dignity is perfect for the role), a dapper, much older man who left Czechoslovakia for Italy more than 25 years before (his parents fled when he was a child; he was eventually allowed to join them a decade later). He now owns a large estate in Italy, but has never quite shaken his attachment to his Czech homeland. Thanks to Evzen's fundamental kindness and Marcela's curiosity and openness, the two develop a surprising friendship that eventually morphs into something more. It is to Hrebejk's great credit that there's never a sense Evzen is using his money to take advantage of a younger woman or, indeed, that Marcela is engaging in a sexual relationship in exchange for financial security. In fact, the relationship is depicted with a respectful innocence, particularly when compared to the intensely sexual passion between Marcela and Jarda. Everything physical between Evzen and Marcela happens in dignified privacy, behind closed doors, whereas Jarda and Marcela have noisy, angry on-screen sex but are incapable of any other form of communication.

What's most impressive about Beauty in Trouble is its nuance. Every character is carefully shaded, making it impossible to dismiss anyone as all evil, or embrace anyone as entirely good. Even Risa (Jirí Schmitzer), Marcela's often unbearable step-father, is granted moments of sympathy, so that even when he's mistreating his step-daughter and her children, it's impossible to dismiss him completely. Similarly, there's tremendous complexity to Marcela's and Jarda's relationship. Though we rarely see Jarda (he's in prison most of the time), and Marcela is determined from the start to get a divorce, they nevertheless share an overwhelming physical attraction, the power of which impacts Marcela's entire existence.

Even when their story veers towards sentimentality, Hrebejk and Jarchovský know just how to bring it back to earth. The film mixes humor and sorrow to great effect, and even the frequent montages -- set to pop music, no less -- are infused with enough seriousness and reality to keep them from turing into Hollywood schmaltz. There's something very reassuring about such a cliché-free, nuanced film about relationships -- it's a nice distraction from life, sure, but also a thoughtful look at the forces that drive all of our lives, and how even the most final decisions aren't necessarily final.