Love is the cause and reason why the famous writer Abel Znorko, winner of many literary awards, lives far from people and civilization. To escape love, to hide from it, to deny all its power. Alone, in his luxurious cabin in the middle of forests, meadows and groves, he enjoys life hedonistically, but also drowns in his own loneliness.
One day, Nicolas Gobert appears at the door. He is a supposed journalist from a not-so-important regional newspaper. He comes all the way from France to talk to the arrogant author about his latest novel, Denied Love, a book of intimate love letters addressed to a mysterious woman with the initials HM. What began as an ordinary conversation gradually turns into a dangerous psychological duel between two men with completely different views on life, relationships, sexuality and the very nature of love. Despite all these differences, they are connected by an unspoken secret. One knows it, while the other has no idea about the skeleton in the closet. Znorko does not respect his guest and behaves chaotically, almost madly. But the guest from France goes after his own like a bulldog, and with each subsequent question it becomes clear that he did not come for his journalistic work. Facts surface, which subsequently break down the carefully constructed identity of both completely different individuals into many small fragmented pieces of half-truths, self-deceptions and assumptions. There are more and more questions. What is the writer hiding? And what does the mysterious journalist know about? As slowly as the mysteries are gradually revealed, they quickly turn into a very cruel game of truth. The two men, with completely different views on love, relationships, sexuality and life itself, exchange blows in an imaginary ring like two boxers, only to eventually come to shocking findings that lead them to the very threshold of life. To the brink of thoughts about being or not being. With information that they must live with from that moment on.
The film's script is based on the stage play Enigmatic Variations by the world-famous French-Belgian playwright Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt. He wrote the play in 1996 for his lifelong friend Alain Delon. The author himself protected the film rights for more than thirty years, and this version is the world's first adaptation of the famous play for cinema.
Premiéra
Premiéra
Genre
Drama, Comedy
Play
Martin Stránský, Ondřej Sokol, Jitka Čvančarová, Vica Kerekes, Petr Vaněk, Miky Křen, Kryštof Michal, Sára Milfajtová, Tereza Blašková, Maria Shevchenko, Hana Drnovská
Camera
Jan Pivoňka, Filip Rejč
Original title
Léčivé účinky sebeklamu
Director
Adolf Zika
Year
2026
Screenplay
Adolf Zika podle divadelní předlohy Érica-Emmanuela Schmitta Enigmatické variace
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