Bohdan Sláma's exquisite film follows the tender ties that form between a young, gay teacher, a lonely widow and her teenaged son in a small Czech town riddled with homophobia.
When a young natural sciences teacher (Pavel Liška) turns down a prestigious school in Prague to work in the backwaters of a remote Czech village, it seems like an odd choice, but he's looking for the space and quiet that he thinks only the country can afford. Once settled, he meets Marie (Zuzana Bydžovská), a local widow whose husband left her to work their farm and raise an adolescent son (Ladislav Šedivý). They form a firm friendship – one she'd like to take further. What Marie does not realize is that the teacher has actually left Prague to escape both a former lover and the confusion he feels about his own sexuality. It is a reality he is forced to confront, however, when his ex-boyfriend arrives in town, upsetting the tenuous love triangle that has formed between Marie, the teacher and her insolent son.
The Country Teacher is about people who long for love but are too afraid to seek it out or give in to it. It is a simple premise, and the uniqueness of Sláma's treatment – the rural Czech setting, the bucolic mood and the unnerving proposition that his character is a self-hating homosexual – breathe real intrigue and compassion into the story. Sláma does not shy away from uncomfortable facts, and his characters are not the rowdy fellows usually found in Czech cinema. He fills his frames instead with melancholy folk who drown their boredom in bottomless bottles. Liška is one of the Czech Republic's finest working actors and Bydžovská is a renowned theatre performer. Crafted through Sláma's keenly naturalistic eye, The Country Teacher is a poignant and thoughtful work of cinema.
Dimitri Eipides
Bohdan Sláma was born in Opava, Czech Republic. He studied at the Film and Television School of the Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU) in Prague, where he directed the short film Garden of Eden (94) and the feature White Accacias (96). He has also directed the features Wild Bees (01), Something Like Happiness (05), which screened at the Festival, and The Country Teacher (08).