From the director of The Cremator and Morgiana, Juraj Herz’s startling, distinctive film is adapted from the renowned novel by Jaroslav Havlíček.
A bitter psycho-sexual romance steeped in fin-de-siecle decadence, Oil Lamps centres on the tragic marriage between two cousins. Štěpa (the fabulous Iva Janžurová), is a vivacious, modern-minded, wealthy young woman, who is desperately seeking love and happiness. She is hopelessly mismatched with Pavel (Petr Čepek), a dashing but arrogant and self-serving retired army officer weighed down by debt, cynicism, and syphilis.
Featuring superb performances by its two leads, elegant costume and set design, stunning cinematography and an evocative score by Luboš Fišer (Valerie and Her Week of Wonders), Herz’s lavish film headily evokes a pungent atmosphere of decay.
Oil Lamps is presented from a new 4K restoration by the Czech National Archive. Our region-free Blu-ray also includes an archival short film, audio commentary and trailer plus a booklet with new writing on the film by Czechoslovak cinema authority Peter Hames.
• Oil Lamps (Petrolejové lampy, 1971) presented from a new
4K restoration by the Czech National Archive.
• A Projection Booth commentary with film historians Mike White, Kat Ellinger and Jonathan Owen.
• Conversation on a Train (Rozhovor ve vlaku, 1947):
An early short Czech public information film on the perils of alcohol and STDs.
• Trailer.
• 20-page booklet with new writing on the film by author and Czech cinema expert Peter Hames.
• New English subtitle translation.
• Region Free (A/B/C) Blu-ray.
• World Premiere on Blu-ray.
Directed by Juraj Herz
Screenplay by Václav Šašek, Lubor Dohnal, Juraj Herz
Based on the novel by Jaroslav Havlíček
Director of Photography - Dodo Šimončič
Music - Luboš Fišer
Editor - Jaromír Janáček
Sound Design - František Černý, Bohumír Brunclík
Production Design - Zbyněk Hloch
Set Design - Jiří Rulík, Ivo Černý, Ivan Ernyei, Rudolf Herz
Assistant Director - Josef Ryzec
Main Cast
Iva Janžurová - Štěpa Kiliánová
Petr Čepek - Lieutenant Pavel Malina
Marie Rosůlková – Mrs Kiliánová, Štěpa’s mother
Ota Sklenčka – Mr Kilián, Štěpa’s father
Vladimír Jedenáctík - Malina, Pavel’s father
Jana Plichtová - Manka
Karel Chromík - Jan
Juraj Herz's renowned filmsThe Cremator, Morgiana and Beauty and the Beast, as well as
other gems
of Czech, Slovak and international cinema
are also available on Second Run
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“With Oil Lamps, Herz sealed his reputation as a master of the psychological film, and the performances of Iva Janžurová and Petr Čepek became the stuff of legend”
Karlovy Vary IFF
“Herz’s films always guarantee something artful, bold, and unlike anything else from their time and place most evident in his lurid period-set drama Oil Lamps… He has left a rich legacy, which is ripe for discovery by international audiences”
Kat Ellinger, Sight and Sound
“The destruction of dream and illusion is as relentless as the descent into madness by Karel Kopfrkingl in The Cremator.
[...] Following the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, its portrait of the death of illusion was all too relevant... the film’s aesthetic power is undeniable and it’s a fitting successor to The Cremator” Peter Hames
“Herz plumbs deep within the psychology of his characters — Čepek’s syphilitic groom, unable to consummate the wedding and rapidly losing his mind; Janžurová’s disappointed bride, robbed of the family of her dreams — in this gripping and gorgeous film, which investigates the rot beneath the decoration and decorum of the Secession era”
Comeback Company
“Herz's sumptuous adaptation, enriched by Dodo Šimončič's glorious cinematography, meshes the director's love of Art Nouveau aesthetics with his peculiarly mordant Weltanschauung”
Melbourne Cinémathèque
“Heartbreaking and beautifully made” DCP Film
“On the surface, Herz's films are mordant fables about authoritarianism. More implicitly, they’re about the stranglehold of illusion — a misbegotten faith in love, honour,
or loyalty that ultimately destroys us”
The New York Review of Books
