“Klaunka: The Life and Career of Jitka Molavcová”

From Dryáčnick’s performance of the song Lípa zelená with a smile from ear to ear, trampled shoes, coat down to the heels and saxophone in hand, other Jitky Molavcová gradually emerge – bitterly lyrical chansonist, lady of the big world Dolly Leviová from the Karlin production Hello, Dolly!, frosty Smrt from the medieval dialogue The Plowman and Death to a sensitive group of children, from whom, as she says, she has been learning immediacy all her life. At the end of the documentary, the viewer understands that Jitka Molavcová is capable of playing Lady Macbeth as well as an earthworm. And both absolutely great.

Olga Sommer’s clown would never be as good if at least three things did not come together in it. And the very fact that the director knows Jitka Molavcová well, that she knows exactly how she wants to present her to the audience, and thirdly, the fact that there is great trust between them, which made it possible for Molavcová to let the director (and with her the audience) into his privacy, which he otherwise carefully guards.

So we will also go with her to see her longtime partner, the actor Alfredo Strejček, who has been confined to a wheelchair for six years after suffering from Guillain-Barré syndrome. We recall her childhood spent in a brewery, which, among other things, brings her closer to Bedřich Smetana, and she doesn’t even resist “personal” questions, such as why she doesn’t have children. But everything is very decent and the documentary certainly does not focus on tabloid details of the actress’s life.

An interesting passage is when Jitka Molavcová and Giulietta Masina are placed next to each other, with whom she is often compared – alongside Charlie Chaplin. And both have the same persuasiveness, charisma and purity. Because in the documentary Klaunka, Jiří Menzel’s sentence is also heard that “Jitka is a pure person from the outside as well as from the inside in every sense of the word”.

The highlight of the documentary is also the superbly directed camera of Olga Malířová Špátová, placing the actress in perfectly coordinated and beautiful environments and thus speaking about her soul, which is in perfect harmony with the landscape. The only thing that seems problematic is the final tone of the film, which feels like an obituary. Jitka Molavcová’s words that “it was a beautiful life” and her disappearance under the surface of the pond seem quite morbid. And unnecessarily. Because Jitka Molavcová is full of life and energy, which she still generously gives out in handfuls.