Funny banter about love, sex, social status, and other ideals, while a new railway employee is trained and sent on his first run as driver.
Direction
Chytilová's unapologetic feminist lens weaponizes workplace comedy.
Acting
Polívka's hapless trainee anchors the anarchic ensemble energy.
Director
Věra Chytilová
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during Czechoslovakia's Normalization period, this was Chytilová's return to features after being banned for 'politically damaging' work — she essentially smuggled feminist critique under bureaucratic satire.
The railway setting wasn't arbitrary: state-run ČSD was a massive employer, making every workplace interaction implicitly political commentary on socialist labor structures.
XC
