"THE SLOVAK film institute presents" "OUR daily DAY..." "Featuring:" "Sound:" "Executive producer:" "Director of photography:" "Story, screenplay, editing and direction:" "Mi?" "ko, is daddy feeling better?" "Yes, and he's back home." " ls he?" " Yes." " He's not in pain now?" " Not really." "No?" "He's cheerful." " Really?" " Yes." "And mummy?" "She still sews." "Gerta, listen!" "Parents are the first to talk to their children about sex." "It's easiest for them to broach the subject with them." "Ideally, the parents take over sex education." "But many don't have the necessary know-how, that is why they must first be ready to learn..." "What do you say?" "Know-how..." "Well, it's your duty." "Have you ever bothered?" "I talk to our daughter about it." "Then she has the know-how." "It's a mistake to talk about it either too early or too late." "Wait, I'll read you the next bit." "Sex education on the part of teachers, doctors or parents is most successful if children are given suitable literature." "Here you have it." "The Physiology and Psychology of Adolescence." "Here's something nice, wait!" "What's that you've got?" "The author's Doctor Strn¨¨ek." "Sounds all right, but is it really like that?" "Read it!" "Don't shout, the children don't have to hear!" "We should already begin sex education in childhood." "We talk about sexual problems scientifically but on their level." "What did you tell them?" "Have you noticed your children at all?" "You do nothing but work." "At school, here, but you take no notice of them." "I do." "Now you're clever, but once Mi?" "o asked you something." "Now you're terribly wise." "Here the handbook says..." "What?" "The doctor has it here for every age." "Marvellous." "So how will you tell him?" "I'm asking you." "You have a gentler manner." "I know how with girls, but boys are your business." "It should be shared!" "Each of us should have something to do." "This is about parents, whether mother or father..." "But you must tell him things like that!" "What do I know about it?" "You don't know what it's about?" "is there no one you want to please?" " No." " But, Mi?" "ka..." "Perhaps there is someone like that." "After all, boys go there too." "Marika." "Don't be silly." "I haven't got anyone." "You haven't got any boys there?" "You only talk about the singer Matu?" "ka!" "Isn't he handsome?" "Handsome?" "What do you like about him?" "You once told me that some ?" "t¨²r goes there, you've forgotten that?" "He's married with two children!" "You didn't tell me that!" "I said he looks like ?" "t¨²r." "I didn't like him." "is that all you've got to say?" "Haven't you..." "What can I say if I haven't?" " You haven't?" " No." " Oh, go on!" " Really!" "We all have some ideal, from a novel, some book or a film, some actor." "I always liked Wolf Br¨¹ck." "That's an actor who played the tsar's courier!" "I used to dream I was in Berlin and I was sitting on the steps outside his front door!" "I didn't even like Delon, I preferred his horse." "Don't say that, it's not normal!" "So what?" " Should I turn it down?" " That's fine." "An advert, for a dress." "We should buy Mi?" "ka some material for a dress." "She wants to go to a party at school, she's been invited..." "A dress for a party?" "Well, it's time she had one." " She had a new dress..." " l'm not asking you." "I'd like a lace one... ls it really a dress she needs?" "Why can't she have a dress for a party?" "What kind of party is it?" "I don't know, a school-leaving one, I think." "School-leaving, or something like that." " A dance?" " A party." "A dinner, a party..." "Five o'clock tea, beginning at six." "Who asked you?" "Hasn't she got enough dresses?" "That's what I say." "Be quiet!" "What do you mean?" "After all, she could use this dress... lt'll immediately go out of fashion, first short, then long!" "She can't have a dress, because it will go out of fashion?" "I don't say she can't, but we have to think of the money, I can't..." "Do you know if she's even got a dress like that?" "I've seen her in a dress like that, she could easily wear it for a party at school." "It's not at school. lt's a decent, school-leaving celebration..." " You've already finished school?" " No, but some friends have." "For the kind of dances they do now... I wouldn't even recommend a special dress." "Do you know what beautiful dresses they had?" "These school-leavers nowadays..." "Must all have been bought at the foreign-currency shop." "Couldn't this dress be made at home?" "After all, she attended a course of dressmaking." "Everything she has is home made..." "She sews for herself." "That's what I like." "What did she go to a course for otherwise?" "But I want one beautiful dress." "Something simple is quite enough for a dance like that, or is it a ball?" "It'll be a genteel one..." "She could wear the dress to concerts and to the theatre." "The ones she has are to school or to town." "As you've suddenly sprung this on me, I must think about the budget." "Why suddenly sprung this on you?" "You'd have to buy her something sometime!" "For you everything is sudden!" "Mi?" "ko, bring me a brush!" " A planned economy." " Bring it!" "You know it took over ten years to pay off our debts." " You know that, don't you?" " That's already paid." "I'm glad to see all my pay at last, with no deductions, so I don't want to have to get used to that again." "So where ..." " But it's only one dress!" " One dress won't..." "The cottage roof's beginning to leak, I need it for that, and I don't like the heating, but a least it doesn't give us dry throats!" "Then why are you hoarse?" "There's a reason for that, it comes with my profession." "Sometimes I have to work with my voice." "But the reason why I'm hoarse..." "Mi?" "o, have you brought that brush?" "Not this one." "Softer - l'd hurt myself with this one." "And bring a towel for my feet!" "If you want to be in my good books." "The water's cold, anyway." "I don't know where you've got the brush." "You don't know where the brush is?" " No, I don't." " Probably in the bathroom." "It's in the bathroom." "Not one that scratches, a soft brush!" "And Mi?" "ko..." "You keep making remarks, don't be cheeky!" "He's much too cheeky, he thinks anyone can..." "Mi?" "ka, take this water away!" "And bring an old newspaper, I'll cut my nails." "There's one over there, take that." "Just a sec, an old one... lt is an old one!" "Wait, I always find something interesting in it." " Which year is it?" " This one." "I need that." "I've put the older ones in the cellar." "Hand me an old one." "These are already sorted out." "Where's she got to with that old paper?" "How long do I have to wait?" "Where've you been?" "It's taken you all that time to look for it?" " ln the cellar." " ln the cellar, you see." "Mi?" "ko, a razor blade!" "Where's the scissors?" "Wait!" "My glasses!" "I can't see what I'm doing." "This isn't easy." "What's this?" "MPs busy at work." "Statutes..." "Welcome here." "What's this?" "This evening Nitra welcomes..." "What's that you're reading?" "This is today's paper!" "But from the cellar." " How did it get there?" " l don't know." "But I haven't read it yet!" "Why aren't you more careful, when you know..." "An old paper!" "Keep this one!" "You just go on about some dress, but no one gives me an old paper." "Pass me one of those!" "Wait, what's this?" "A May parade." "This'll do, it wasn't any good." "This TV programme" "Well, the television... has to be just in this magazine..." "The eleventh of May..." "Waldemar." "You've got him on the wall." "Mi?" "ko, bring a razor blade!" "If you were any use, you could cut them for me." "I can't manage it." " l hate to think how that would..." " Why?" "What's hard about cutting nails?" "Let's talk about that dress." "You're going to cut your nails now..." "Why've I soaked them for so long?" "Let me cut them a bit." "Cut them and we'll talk about that dress." "I'll listen and make comments." "Why must you make comments?" "At least what it would cost." "Around five hundred, how do I know?" " How much?" " Five or six hundred." "That's a lot, how much can a miniskirt cost?" "Mi?" "ka doesn't wear miniskirts." "In the shops dresses cost around three or four hundred..." "Okay, if I agree." "She'll have a dress, he'll want something, someone else..." "Surely she can have something once." "She's almost eighteen!" "How many times do I have to stress that?" "And didn't she wear dresses before she was eighteen?" "She did, but we're talking about a decent dress for a party." "is someone practising shooting?" "I saw that paper." "Good morning." "We couldn't come sooner, we had... I know you couldn't come sooner." "You never can!" "I keep giving you dates." "Everyone tells us they haven't time, now we've got credits for Slovak." "If it was a credit for Slovak, you could've said the same to him." "No doubt he was younger." "?" "ia¨¨ekov¨¢'s got some official post, hasn't she?" "What is she?" "One at a time." "You tell me what." "Aha, study adviser." "So you don't study, because the study adviser doesn't come here?" "Don't make light of it, it's the end of the school year, study now at least!" "Please play it rhythmically!" "Take it again!" "It wasn't me." "In your notebooks you sometimes have... I've even seen letters... I need to see that homework." "Zat'kov¨¢!" "Smoothly, with feeling..." "You play it harshly, it's painful." "There's not such a great difference, when it comes to the demands of architecture." "Agricultural buildings..." "Thank goodness!" "Then name an agricultural building." "A cow shed..." "The roof of a cow shed and a theatre probably do have something in common." "But smoothly." "That must be exactly right." "Once again!" "What d'you want to be?" "A Vilma Rudolf?" "Do you at least know who that was?" "A fortune-teller." "Tell us her nationality at least." "A black woman." "Great." "But for that I can't give you a mark for building constructions." "Do you know any famous woman athlete?" "Kir?" "i?" "tajnerov¨¢?" "That Klobukovski..." "I've heard something, you'll explain it later." "And you've got training, huh?" "You come to school by train, lt costs your parents something to keep you." "What are your mother or father's monthly expenses for you?" "It's not easy." "What am I as a teacher to do about it?" "You'll be a teacher, too." "How will you face your pupils?" "How will you deal with such cases?" "Who will you make allowances for?" "But the whole year's work is taken into account." "That's terrible, what nerve, the whole year's... goodness me." "But when we were absent, we couldn't come." "It's pointless talking about what happened the whole year.." "This is your last chance." "You want top marks, don't you?" "I can't possibly give you that." "Now it's for your parents." "Or for a grant?" "I would like a grant for good results." "What are your family circumstances?" "There are four of us and mummy sends me four hundred a month." "That's enough." "Does mummy work?" " Yes, she does, I..." " She has a job?" "If I have bad marks, I won't get a grant." "Certainly not." "The piano's meant to save you?" " At least the piano." " At least the piano." "That's terrible." "Yet you're smiling, don't you feel like crying?" "Sklen¨¢r, you know how you stand." "You know you should fail." "But you're smiling." "I don't know what you want to do." "I'll try giving you another question." "If you can answer... I don't want you to stand here like a partisan, not saying a word." "How do we make the surface finish of ceiling constructions?" "By what criteria?" "Name some types that are most economical for us." "In our conditions." "You really are like a partisan?" "They keep silent when interrogated." "Say something!" "I feel like crying." "An old, experienced person like me and cases like this." "I'd like to see you as a teacher, how uncompromising you young people can be to others." "And you expect us to make allowances." "I have to consider you, your parents and who else?" "What to do?" "I don't know." "It's terrible. irresponsible, with regard to your parents... lf you know that, I'll turn more than one blind eye." "I'm in love." "You see." "Wait, in that case..." "What did you say?" "I'm in love." "You were young once, how did you feel the first time you were in love?" "I'm still young." "I'm still experiencing my first love, but I haven't time to compare it." " But that first time." " That first... well, that first... I think it's lasted till now." "Just the objects have probably changed." "But I'm still as keen." "We have a new student, who I should like to welcome and I hope she will enjoy being with us to the end of the school year." "Well, go to the blackboard." "Sit down!" "Sit next to Marcel!" "He's calling her, isn't he?" "Marcel, why did you want me to sit next to you?" "I thought, I have to explain, when something comes up... I say something, so I sit alone, so we have a chance to laugh..." "Why do they laugh at you?" "I'm known for my remarks, they make everyone laugh." "I've heard you broke a plate and bumped into a cook." "They were pushing, the plate fell and the cook ran for the deputy head." "I quickly picked up the bits..." "What's the deputy head like?" "Teaches natural history, very good teacher." "He kicked up a bit of a fuss and then said:" "Can't you hold on for the last few days?" "Do you like any of the girls in the class?" "I've only been in this class for a year." " Only a year?" " l was in another class." "And in that class?" "Do you like going to the cinema?" "Not really." "They're showing the BlackTulip, everyone's been... lt's excellent." "Aren't you going to see it?" "I don't know." "Would you like to go?" "Well, I... I'd like to." "Today it's on at half past three." "Calmly, that's the Reverie." "That's a strange Reverie." "Will you ask your parents or shall we go without permission?" "I can say I'm going to the cinema." "They'll let me go." "Won't they object to you going with a girl?" "I'll say we're going with the class, after all, we do that." "So we'll meet and go." "Where shall we meet?" "I don't know." "That'll do..." "That's the Reverie." "Won't it be awkward if we go to the cinema?" "Won't some girl be jealous?" "It'd be my first time like that." "We boys go, but girls go as well, but it's the first time that..." "Marcel, you never laugh." "I never laugh?" "You don't know... I don't know you, but it seemed to me... I laugh so much that I've paid for it." "Why?" "Some teachers don't like it." "Even so, you seemed sad to me." "I'm like that too. I find it hard to get to know people." "One for six." " For how much have you, please?" " For seven, six and five." " Two for six, please." " They're sold out for today." "Then for seven." "They're all sold out." "Couldn't you manage it somehow?" "Those two for six." "I promised the teacher, but I came late." "Wait here, I'm just going to get out of playing the trombone." "Don't show yourself much near the cinema, mum teaches here, I've got tickets, we'll pop off to that cinema." "You're going to play the trombone now?" "You enjoy playing?" "I took it up, it was for free, I could play." "Have you performed anywhere?" "On May Day, we gave a concert in a village." "So I'm going to get it over and done with." "All right, I'll wait for you." "Careful!" "The same melody is repeated half way through, but the first time it's piano, and the second time...?" " Mezzo-forte." " And which is louder?" "Mezzo-forte." "Then keep to it, if that's what's written." "Keep exactly to what is in the score." "Careful!" "Here you made a mistake in the fingering." "This bar once more!" "Careful, a mistake in intonation!" "The first mistake was at the beginning, these notes are long." "This is a faster tempo, here we shorten the notes." "We'll speed it up a bit." "The other problem is this point." "I couldn't practise much, we have visitors at home, I couldn't make so much noise." "And could you let me go now, because the whole family is going to granddad's grave." "His brother's come." "What will you do at the cemetery?" "I don't know." "Pay our respects." "This young boy has an id card." "Everyone has, it can't be helped." "You must have some proof of identity." "She left it at home." "But they know me." "Haven't you got something from school?" "You think I'm not fifteen?" "Look how grown up she is." "She is, that's not the point." "If I've got an id card, she has too." "Must we always have it with us?" "What's written on that board?" "Young people under fifteen must show their id cards." "Her age isn't written on her face, she must carry it all the time." "I always have to have it with me?" "I can't help it." "If they know me and I go to school with her, then she... I don't know who she goes to school with, I don't go there." "You talk the most, but you haven't shown us anything yet." "Then I'll show you..." "Those kinds of dances didn't exist when I was young." "What is this dance called?" " Are you going to start now?" " No, we're finishing." "Don't they teach you the polka, only those modern ones?" "They do, but there's no room there for such things." "You can't dance the polka?" "Where do you dance?" "The polka is almost like skipping around, and where can you... lt's a kind of rhythmical skipping to a polka..." "Don't you know some tune?" "The polka melody's like this... lt'll survive three generations." "I'll tell you about one polka you know, it's gone round the world." "You of all people know it!" "Wait, wait!" "I'll show you." "Roll out the Barrel." "That's it!" "It held the whole world together throughout the war." "That's music, the real thing." "Let's try it!" "Mummy, play one of those... I'm already playing." "Better something else, the tango, for example." "Better the tango." "I'll show you how it should be danced." "Slowly, just hold me." "We'll just move our bodies like..." "people in love." "In love?" "She's eighteen!" "Bend closer to each other!" "I can't, that paunch..." "Mummy, look how she dances." "Dad's like a sea wolf." "So slow?" "You could do one of those amorous dances." "I wouldn't have anyone to do it with." "So that's what you mean by an amorous dance?" "Yes, on the same spot." "You see!" "Then this hand must go somewhere else." "Like this?" "In my pocket?" "Yes, to get your purse." "They teach you to dance that?" "Then show us how you think it should be." "You must stand on the spot, just slowly moving and swaying..." "Then I'll be your boy." "I'm the boy and you must slowly sway..." "Do you remember how we practised that polka with Mi?" "ka?" "I didn't like her then." "Then she wanted that tango." "Goodness, she was encouraging me to get so close, so amorous, body to body." "Seriously!" "Some shake-up dance like the tango suits her better than a polka." "Goodness, what do you see in it?" "There are emotions in the tango, the impression of being in love." "Heavens, what emotions are you talking about?" "What do you know about being in love?" "Not me, but I think it applies to her." "Goodness, you'd do better to buy her that material for a dress!" "All you think of is that dress!" "What does she need it for?" "Just so she can appear in it?" "So she looks pretty." "What's wrong with that?" "Pretty, and for whom?" "She definitely wants to impress someone!" "They want to impress each other." "Do you think we only dress up to attract some boy..." "During that dance I felt she's longing to dance like that with a boy in a pretty dress." "So what?" "She's eighteen." "is she ready for it psychologically, or only biologically?" "Why do you ask me what I think about it?" "Of course, I'm interested, aren't I?" "Why do you analyse it like that?" "Buy her material for that dress!" "What do you keep worrying about?" "You keep changing the subject." "When you're meant to buy a dress, you begin philosophising." " Excuse me, where does the architect live?" " Sorry, who?" "I'm looking for the architect." " Which one?" "There are several here." " Mr Ravinger." "There are as many Ravingers here as there are Anabaptists" "We're five families living here, you know." "They have a boy in the ninth form, Marcel." "Then that's mine." "What a coincidence." "Do you know something about Marcel?" "That interests me, he's my son." "Please come in!" "This is the gate, you know." "If I made an ordinary gate, everyone could get in." "But here the gate is at the back." "Please, you can get in this way." "Through here?" "If it was an ordinary gate, anyone could open it." "I'm Marcel's father." "We are the Hladkys." "If it is inconvenient... I'm the mother." "The name reminds me of someone." "He was my supervisor." "From Bratislava." "Ladies and gentlemen, dear students!" "We are meeting for the last time, in order to say goodbye to you." "On behalf of the school I wish to thank you for your hard work your teacher and Pioneer leader for everything they have done." "This moment is not suitable for long speeches..." "Quite so." "And you don't need them." "So I wish you a pleasant party and much success in the future." " Katka, aren't you dancing?" " l don't know anyone here." "Didn't you dance at your party either?" "I did, I know the people there." "Come and dance at least with me." " Marcel, dance!" " l don't know how to." "Then I'm going to dance." "Why don't you dance?" "I would, if I knew how to." "You must know something." " l don't know anything." " Not even the shake?" "That's the first time I've heard of it." " Would you like to dance?" " Are those sandwiches good?" "Excellent." "But if you want to dance, go ahead." "Come on, what are you afraid of?" "I don't know what to do with my feet." "No one else knows any better, don't be silly!" "But they know I can't dance." "You're not a little boy." "We're already in the ninth form." "We are, but I don't know how to." "What does that matter." "Do you think anyone knows?" "I'm not going to make a fool of myself." "No one knows, they just jump around." "Come on, what harm can it do?" "If I don't know how to dance, I won't." "Excuse me. I'll tidy myself up a bit." "My wife..." " What is it?" " Come in!" "Come in!" "This is my wife." "If you don't mind, I'll change." "I'll take this T-shirt off, it reminds me..." "This way, please." "They've come about..." " l don't know what." " Your son." "Last week my daughter joined your Marcel's class." "I'd like to see him." "My daughter keeps saying how kind and agreeable he is, that they have made friends and he invited her to the cinema..." "He showed her Nitra, just as a friend, nothing special..." "That does surprise me!" "She's glad someone is taking care of her, I think it was a friendly gesture, as one classmate to another..." "That's nice, but a little surprising." "At that age it's usually girls who make friends, I'm surprised that Marcel... I've never heard..." "He's very shy, he keeps his distance from girls." "Our Katka isn't at all shy and she talks in a friendly way about him." "I just wanted to say, we are going abroad for two years, and for that time we are leaving her with her grandparents." "But yesterday grandma was worried, because their form was having a party, and our Katka came home around eleven." "Grandma was anxious, so I wanted to know, whether Marcel came at that time, or the whole form so late, whether they had permission, or... lf you're home late from the cinema, do your parents make a fuss?" "I don't go to the cinema, but when I stayed at that party... mum asked where l'd been, whether I wasn't drunk and..." "My friend once came home late from the cinema, her parents kicked up a fuss, she wasn't allowed out for two weeks." "She was confined to the house." "They made such scenes." "I've got an aunt like that." "She acts as if she's terribly moral, but she tells us, I saw that girl with that boy..." "but she wasn't doing anything." " What's wrong with that?" " l don't know." "Our parents want us to stay children, and they just don't realise, we're already fifteen." "I'm almost sixteen." "He doesn't like dancing... I asked him what he did and he said he danced." "What did you dance?" "He told me some dance..." "Something that sounded like ?" "vejk..." "Not ?" "vejk, shake..." "Then he showed me it, like this..." "Well, but it was somehow... without rhythm..." "You probably don't need any special talent for that, just to shake yourself somehow." "Look into my eyes." "Have you ever kissed a girl?" "Have you ever kissed a girl?" "Not yet." "Have you?" "A boy, I mean?" " My cousin, too." " Cousin?" "And have you thought about kissing a girl?" "Don't you even want to kiss?" "What would be so terrible about it if I kissed her?" "I'm just asking, that's all." "Of course I'm interested, now we're talking, where our children were and what they were doing, but I'm not sure why you came." "Just so I can respond, because I don't yet know whether you were glad that our Marcel was with your daughter." "I can't somehow make it out." "That would tell me the point of your visit and our talk." " Just for information, of course." " Okay, for information... I'd a feeling Marcel is straying from the straight and narrow." "I'm imagining that you kissed me." " You're going too far." " l'm not!" "If you want to see something bad, the most innocent things can seem so, but let's try trusting our children." "What do you say?" "Children should be trusted, so far we have, so I think..." "We trust them too." "Interesting, the girl's only here a week and we have a problem." "There were so many girls there and he never..." "D'you remember, when Marcel got up to something in school, they punished him by sitting him next to a girl." "For him it was the worst punishment." "But that was a long time ago." "Then it was a punishment for him, if he did something wrong, he had to sit next to a girl." "Marcel's not the same age now." "He was born in fifty-two, so he's quite old now." "But is he old enough to go out with a girl and show her the sights?" "Then tell me, what can he show her?" "This hand shouldn't be like this, put it here, but..." "You have your little finger here, like this and now..." " Like this?" " More or less." "But stretch your hand a bit." "Wait, we'll call Marcel." "Marcel, come here!" "Good evening, Marcel." "Have you got your trousers on..." "Glad to meet you, I'm Katka's mother." "I'm glad she's found a good friend." "Then tell me what you've read, how you're going to tell him?" "I'm reading interesting things..." "But how are you going to tell him?" "How?" "Look!" "How did you find out?" "There are such lovely things here, that make sex beautiful and noble, but it can be a disaster for anyone who starts too early." "Isn't that beautiful?" "Or this:" "The standard of sexual..." "Listen when I'm reading!" "The standard of sexual life partly depends on that of cultural life." "A higher standard creates conditions for a higher form of sexual life." "All right, but tell me... I'll tell him now and explain." "Dr. Strn¨¢d wrote it nicely, but I'd like some advice from him that..." "How to say it, do you think it would be useful... lt'd be simplest to tell him to buy a book like this and study it!" "You bought it for him, give it to him!" "I won't give him this one, I've underlined some sentences." "He'd ask why." "How many weddings should there be?" "Three more, three in a row." "All rather late today." "Seems to take a long time." "What's the time?" "I don't know. I won't cook today." "Have you done your shopping?" "Some of it." "Meat." "Pay day's not until Monday, did you have enough for it?" "Monday?" "Not till Tuesday." "This is sure to save us!" "I thought it was Monday." "No, Tuesday. lt's the fifteenth today, isn't it?" "Tomorrow's Sunday the sixteenth, Monday the seventeenth..." "Then we'll have to have something left over from Sunday." "It's enough to make ends meet till Sunday and you'll still have..." "No, I've already bought chickens." "I bought chickens in the week." "I had a look at the market today, there were very few there." "I don't buy them at the market." "I bought them in a shop." "Look out, the next ones are coming!" "Get ready!" "Put your foot there." "Here's part of it, I'd add this." "Ah, you've got it pinned already!" "Won't you try it on?" "You can't see anything yet." "You can't see anything yet." "Straight at the back, so I can get my head..." "Put a bit here, this is enough..." "Next you'll want a rose here..." "You must have it cut away here, you've got a short neck." "I'll have it up to my neck here, smooth and towards the back." "You know what would be great?" "A jacket." "This dress will be sleeveless, won't it?" "But who'll sew it up in two days?" " l must have it ready." " You'll do it." "And who'll go to school for me?" "Work it all out and pin it up." "Why do you keep saying you won't dance?" "Why do you think you won't dance?" "Because when I went to dance lessons, the girls danced mainly with girls, because there were too few boys, even on the ski trip I didn't dance even once!" " There were no boys there!" " There were." "But there isn't one boy in our class..." "no, just one boy, and he wasn't there, and the others..." "You're suffering from something, because that feeling..." "You've got a complex, or something like that." "Maybe I have, who knows?" "But I have a feeling I won't dance." "Why do you think that?" "Because I don't know how to charm anyone and I can't dance well, and I've never really tried it." "In what way do you mean charm?" "By beauty?" "You've got something else in you." "You're friendly, that also has..." "But who sees it in your eyes?" "How am I going to behave?" "Those boys are only friends, aren't they?" "Do you think they like it when someone clings to them?" "You'll see, someone will appreciate that more." "Maybe. I haven't yet met anyone who appreciates it more." "They always talk to the kind who cling to everyone immediately." "The other day your registrar said they pay sixty crowns in Moravia, and us only fifteen." "My sister-in-law's sister said that in Central Slovakia they even pay a hundred." " l've heard that too." " Us fifteen..." "That's despicable!" "I'm telling you, it's only in Nitra they pay so badly." "Elsewhere, as you say, it's at least fifty." "You understand, we're qualified, you're in that society... the Committee for Civil Affairs." "As a member, they only got me from the music school just to..." " l feel so worn out..." " You're tired?" " How many more?" " lt's dragging on today." " Nothing's on time!" " They're saying goodbye at home." " And have they even paid?" " That photographer..." "Yes, yes..." " How lovely!" " What's lovely about it?" "Really." "What do you see in it?" "Look at this... here..." "Don't take it off, if we put..." "We'll put something blue here, blue buttons, that'll make you a bit slimmer..." "Others will come like ballerinas and I... lt's not that bad, honestly!" "Why would I say so?" "It can be done!" "We'll take it in here, alter this..." "Anyway, we must add another colour." "I don't know why I always want blue." "We'll take it in here a bit, shorten it there, you can make it a bit wider here." "I'll buy something for you here." "I probably won't go anywhere." "I was looking forward to it, but I'm worked up about it." "I don't know why you're so sceptical and you keep doubting." "It's not so bad, it can be put right." "Then I'll buy you a lovely dress." "I don't know what you want to alter." "I'll go in this..." "This is pretty, it's ... pique." "But it will look awful on me." "A pleat here, blue there, elsewhere taken in, let out... I shall look ... awful." "It'll be just as I dreaded." "Not only will I sit out, but what will I look like?" "I'm sorry." "But it's not as bad as you make out." "You always talk like that." "We're not so badly off that I can't even buy you... lt'll be better now." "It's terrible." "Pretty well the whole day." "Once we played a bit in the morning, a bit in the afternoon..." "Wait, we'll share it out." "Well, okay." " You're wonderful, I'm waiting." " All right." " Where is it?" " Here." "Then divide it up!" "I'll make piles!" "It doesn't work out this time either." "Ah, here!" "No big green ones?" " None, really?" " No, really." "It's just that green is good for the eyes." "Wait, I can't count it." "... eighty... ninety and two fifties." " Two fifties and ninety is..." " Two fifties for each..." "Wait!" "You must do something with this, it's torn//falling to pieces, soon we won't have anything to play from." "Look, there's something here!" "I knew it." "Good to see." "That's super." "It'll save us." "It's the first time that's happened!" "Such a good job!" "Yes!" " Good morning." " Good morning." " A terrible thing's happened to us." " And what's that?" "We were sewing a dress for Mi?" "ka for a party on Saturday, we wanted to hurry it up, so we thought we'd do it ourselves." "Put it on, so that we can see..." "She cut it out, got it ready, and now we need to be rescued." "This for a party?" "But it's pretty!" "This for a party?" "Mi?" "ka, you won't look good in this." "How can you say that?" "I've got something to go with it..." "A different material!" "I wanted to, but there wasn't anything." "Hardly anything at all." "But this is nice!" "Then I'll hurry..." "And now this." "So how do you want it?" "I don't know, you can advise us." "One meter twenty." "How much did they give me?" "One meter twenty, but double width." " That's enough for the whole dress!" " From this?" "She'll have one more dress." "Isn't it some mistake?" "Good evening." "What can I bring you?" "Good evening." "Looks nice here." "Good wine and good prices, if only we had hard currency to pay for it." "We've only got ordinary crowns." "Bring us some good cheap wine." "Two Martells, please." "And seven decilitres of wine." "Just a moment. I must know what it will cost." "Grenadine for my daughter, please." "You'll admit, as a secondary school teacher..." "The salary's also a deciding factor." "So cheap and good quality." "Bring something." "Here you are." "You pay in advance." "How much will it cost?" "A hundred and twenty-nine." "It'll be the death of me." "Hubert, and Extra at that - Sixty-six crowns!" "That's what we expected." "I must work out how much this dance of yours will cost." "That music's terrible." "For that money no one... lf someone comes and asks you, don't go and dance." "This music. lt's awful." "Awful?" "What are you doing here, boys?" "Dad, for heaven's sake stop that!" "Do you mind, I know them." "Okay, but you're not going to force anyone on me." " Can't I introduce them?" " No, that's not done." "Mi?" "ko, isn't your daughter dancing?" "Not for the moment, maybe she will." "Don't you dance to this?" " She doesn't dance to this." " And what will she dance to?" "That's just what we needed!" "What did we need?" "This!" "Did we need this?" "is this what we were missing?" "What were we missing?" "Why do you bang that bottle down on the piano?" "That's my livelihood!" "You shouldn't put it there!" "I paid for it." "Isn't it undignified to take the bottle with you?" "It's not undignified." "You ordered Martell." "You left it there, you acted like noble ladies." "Miss didn't want to dance..." "For heaven's sake!" "For heaven's sake!" "I only spoke to those boys on her behalf." "You only spoke on her behalf!" "Why did you need to do that?" "Why did you have to say that?" "What good is that to us?" "And what does the Martell matter!" "Here we lost thousands..." "Heavens, you made such a fuss there, until now we haven't been anywhere, and when we do go, all you care about is one Martell... all you care about is one Martell..." "People were paying thousands!" "But I have to watch the budget." "It's always only you!" "Your budget!" "Always only you!" "We've had this for years." "Years, and now you even... I told her I didn't need to go there." "She even made an expensive dress." "This is an expensive dress?" "The dressmaker laughed, she called it a rag." "So what kind of modern dress does she want?" "Not modern, just something better, we're not so poor we can't afford it." "We paid for it and what happened?" "Did I need a dance for that?" "It was all your fault." "is this how one imagines life will be?" "is this what you prepared for us?" "You invited me, so I went." "We did, but what are you telling me!" "Then where am I to go with you?" "It wasn't the expense I minded." "Should I go to the cemetery with you?" "That won't cost anything." "And you can be sad there!" "And you can be quiet there." "It'd be just the right place for you." "All my youth, with you..." "What did I get from it?" "Youth!" "Did you think you'd always be young?" "When did I have a good time?" "When did I go to a party?" "When could I afford anything?" "I came from Prague during the Protectorate." "First I went to school and then..." "You could add that first you were born." "Let's begin at the beginning." "Go on, say it was a pity we went there." "So we were there." "That was all we experienced and then it was over." "Nineteen fifty-three came and we went broke." "But you kept saying, it'll be all right..." "You philosophized, speculated, until you overdid it and lost all." "I still believe things will work out for the best." "What do you believe in?" "What do you believe?" "I believe everything." "I'm just talking about the past." "And today we go to a party for the first time with our daughter, and we quarrel about some stupid champagne." "That's all!" "Champagne." "One Martell, as if..." "Heaven's... what did you do there?" "You kept counting, you weren't even interested in what was going on." "You admire a poet..." "That's just like you." "You come to a party and you say..." "Recite the poem Bacardi for me." "To drink baccardi..." "Have you ever drunk it?" "Of course, but not with you." "I haven't." "Why didn't you let us have it?" "Why did you hum and ha?" "Don't ask me who I drank it with, I don't ask you who you drank what with." "What with who?" "With no one." "And I've never tasted Bacardi!" "What do you think it is?" "Some Cuban cognac." "No idea, of course." "What are you getting at now?" "I don't know why you made such a fuss." "is that what we were making preparations for?" "It wasn't how I imagined it either!" "You didn't like the music, old polkas... lt was embarrassing that no one came for her." "So I went with the girl... what's wrong with her, what is it about her?" "And what was I meant to do about it?" "I knew those boys, so I spoke to them." "That was a disgrace, did she have to hear it?" "Tono had to shout out there:" "Isn't your daughter dancing?" "For ages I've been wondering whether to tell you." "I'm disgusted with life." "And you often don't seem to be a mother." " Heavens, how could you think that?" " How could I think that?" "I can't see any love on your part, any feeling, it's all about money." "You come home happy - l got that much there, I had a nice little job, I earned that much... I managed to get a bargain." "But you don't make anyone happy." "Just money, money." "Just money, money." "Because that's what I see." "How can you see it?" "Who do you think I'm doing it for?" "How can you say that to me?" "I do it all for you." "You have no idea how it was for us." "I don't understand how you could say that to me." "Must it be money all the time?" "No dream, no ideal, how it could be." "You talk to me about ideals?" "Really, you see nothing but money." "D'you think I wasn't young?" "Wasn't I eighteen once?" "I was nineteen when I left school." "I learned languages, I learned to play the piano, to have a good life." "My mother also wanted to prepare everything for me." "You pay, you come... I don't know why you come." "A waste of time every week." "You don't do anything here." "Why don't you practise?" "Such a distance... a waste of time." "When I wanted to take piano lessons:" "No I won't allow that!" "It was a question of whether I would go to the conservatory, or go on to study something else." "Dad said:" "No!" "That was after the First World War, when Russian aristocrats were playing in bars." "He didn't want to allow that." "He didn't believe I'd be a pianist." "While everyone else said I could make a career." "And what's the result?" "You're an ordinary teacher, just scraping a living." "Now I'm happy I'm a teacher." "I like doing it. I enjoy it." "But before I got to it, the things I had to give up..." "During the Protectorate I used to play in an orchestra." "I counted on going to study after the war." "My dream was some embassy." "I wanted to see the world." "And that was all I could afford." "The Protectorate put a stop to that." "At grammar school the girls used to tell me, what are you worrying about!" "You'll make a career as an actress." "For example, Ji?" "¨ª Krej¨¨¨ªk, who went into films, said:" "One day I'll make a feature film." "You'll play the second main role." "I don't know why the second, I was a bit taken aback." "He probably meant some comedy role." "In the end, he made the film without me." "He's a laureate and I don't know what else." "I remembered him once when I was in a bad situation." "Without money and without hope, and then I realised all the things I could have been, all I could have done." "That time I noticed a newspaper on the ground, I just pushed it open with my foot and read:" "Krej¨¨¨ªk has become a laureate." "I thought:" "He got twenty thousand, and I'm just rushing around here." "Mrs Gerta, tune that G!" "is that G alright by you?" "Can you hear it?" " l can't tune it, how am I...?" " lt must be possible to tune it." "Yes, but not straight away!" "You should do it before rehearsals." "Get ready... slacken it... slacken it more, more... lt's okay now." "That's enough, thank you!" "If we'd had the kettledrums last time, it'd go better today." "But you have to come to rehearsals occasionally." "I'm not cross, but I have to remind you." "Once again!" "Slightly quicker tempo." "I'll set the tempo." "One, two, three!" " Are you listening, Mi?" "ko?" " l'm listening." "When did you get to know Gerta?" "She used to play, that was long ago... I always had a feeling for music." "A girls' orchestra was playing in a coffee house in Prague." "A girls' orchestra." "She missed the tram, I caught up with her, officer, uniform.. she fell for it." "I greeted her and said:" "I don't mind... wait... I said:" "I don't mind escorting you even if it's several kilometres on foot." "Who wouldn't fall for that?" "So I escorted her." "Vinohrady, Streleck¨¢ 12... 23." "He's burbling on!" "You missed the tram." "I did, because it was... lt wasn't yet the Protectorate, but it was already looking gloomy." "I was impressed by the fact that she didn't want it:" "Do you mind!" "I have always been a protector of frail women." "I was more frail than I am now, there's no arguing about that." "And she said to me:" "Slovaks have always impressed me, but not ones who go to pubs." "I said:" "D'you mind, I'm bored here." "Where are those moments, the time I was young." "Then came the day when a dream died." "When a night moth stretched out its wings" "A night moth in love means love's lost and in vain." "It flies into the darkness." "Love's both a joy and a pain." "I'm so worried about Mi?" "ka." "What did you say?" "That I'm worried about our Mi?" "ka." "I trust her, but I don't want her to experience some disappointment." "She's going away for two months, to a new environment." "Do you think I'm not worried?" "Aren't they beautiful?" "is that how you're getting ready to go to Austria?" "It's half past ten, when do you want to be ready?" "In a minute." " Marcel, you, too!" " What for?" "We're going to see her off, aren't we?" "I don't know how to explain it." "I trust her, but here it's not a question of trust." "I don't want her to experience some disappointment there." "She's an idealist, she always imagines..." "Do you think I don't care?" "I didn't want to agree at first, after all, she's going to a strange world..." "When it comes to such things, I'm totally..." "What should I do now?" "Give her some guidance?" "In Salzburg the water in the lakes is cold, take care not to catch cold there." "Be careful about bathing!" " There's salt water there." " lt's not salty, but cold." "I don't want you to bathe dressed up warm, but..." "You catch cold quickly and that's no simple matter." "I know I can bathe only in the afternoon." "And no playing the hero!" "I know how such girls like showing off!" "I never show off." "That's what we're worried about." "After all, there must be some trust." "You know, it's hard to explain what I feel... my wish for her is that everything will go smoothly." "I wish she may have a great love, and that everything will be beautifully harmonious for the rest of her life." "A great love... are you thinking of the kind in novels?" "Don't bring an Austrian back with you from your holiday." "I'll bring an Italian." "Or, God forbid, a little Austrian." "Marcel, keep your stupid remarks to yourself!" "Just wait, if someone comes." "You shouldn't have said that!" "Such girls can be easily duped by some older... I'm telling you that from experience." "That's no trivial matter." "Why are you surprised?" "Can't I have experience of young people?" "As it happens, we met some young people in a bar... a group of young girls, I don't know what attracted them, an old man knows how to..." "So what attracted them?" "I don't know either." "Nor do I, but they rose to the bait." "Such girls easily let themselves..." "A young girl rises to the bait, and an older man..." "That young girl can take it idealistically, but the greedy old tomcat needn't." " l know that very well." " What do you know?" "Tell us." "What should I tell you?" "I was in Bratislava... I'd compare it to the white nights in Moscow, but Bratislava wasn't Moscow." "I'm an idealist from that point of view, I can imagine it, and I led that girl on to the point where..." " What's up?" " Can't I look at you?" "What you're saying surprises me." "It surprises you?" "Better not take the tips." "It doesn't look good." "They give it to the chamber maid, but we don't have to rely on it." "Who knows what they would think of us." " l shouldn't take them?" " l don't want to hear of it!" "And if a guest should leave me a tip for tidying up?" "No. I'll tell you something, you know what." "Yes." "You sometimes bring a tip from a wedding and you say:" "It was good, we got 150 crowns." "Don't pass judgment on me." "Don't compare yourself with me!" "I'm just advising you." "But they may leave something there for me." "The main is for you to learn German." "But if they leave money for me, what should I do?" "Don't complicate things again!" "I'm afraid Mi?" "ka might be naive." "She'll be easily taken in." "I certainly don't want it to be like in that song, when he was tired of flying from one flower to another... I insist that when Mi?" "ka one day falls in love, she should stay with him." "So she isn't a flighty little flower." "Wait a minute, don't shut it!" "Come on, quick!" "Our daughter's going to Austria and you shut the gates in front of us." "I keep saying they ought to make a footbridge here." "I know it's not your fault." "We're late because of you." "So many different hats and we miss the train." "But that's not our train!" "That's not our train, is it?" "It's not, but we should already be there." "Come on!" "Quick!" "Quick!" "You've been hanging around too long." "Those hats of yours..." "Quick!" "Mi?" "ka, please don't let anyone..." "Be careful, there are all kinds of greedy tomcats there." "And don't take any..." "A flower like that only flowers once, don't let it be easily picked." "THE END"