The Virgin and the Monster
Julie, the youngest daughter of a bankrupt merchant, sacrifices her life in order to save her father. She goes to an enchanted castle in the woods and meets Netvor, a bird-like monster. As Netvor begins to fall in love with Julie, he must suppress his beastly urge to kill her.
- Panna a netvor
- Czechoslovakia 1978
- 88 min.
- 12+
In 1978, director Juraj Herz enriched the contemporary genre scene with two
fairytale horror films – Deváté srdce (The Ninth Heart) and Panna a netvor
(The Virgin and the Monster). Following his highly stylised features of the
1960s, the filmmaker was forced to express himself in terms of plain realism. So
within his filmography, these two films constitute his return to the expressive
style of Spalovač mrtvol (The Cremator, 1968), Petrolejové lampy (Oil Lamps,
1971) and Morgiana (Morgiana, 1972). While Deváté srdce was based on an
original theme, the story of Panna a netvor is an adaptation of classic
material, respectively František Hrubín’s play for the theatre inspired by
the fairytale story of Beauty and the Beast. Otta Hofan adapted
Hrubín’s text for the film, but Panna a netvor is most of all a
demonstration of the director’s ability to construct a fanciful, poetically
sombre and gloomy atmosphere.
At the chateau in the deep woods, the heroine of the narration, the beautiful,
impoverished daughter of a merchant, Julie (Zdena Studénková), experiences
both a nightmarish and affectionate relationship with the mysterious beast.
Despite the fact that the strange, cursed host eventually turns into a handsome
prince, the beast has become the feature’s most impressive attraction. Herz
rejected the canonical “lion” stylisation and instead created a bird
monster, whose inhuman and beastly movements and gestures made it all the more
convincing given the artistic ability of the motion picture’s big star, the
dancer Vlastimil Harapes.
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