We Have Never Been Modern ( literally "Dawn") is a 2023 Czech and Slovak crime drama film directed by Matěj Chlupáček and written Miro Šifra. "We Have Never Been Modern" is Chlupaček's second feature film, defined by him as "a detective story with a female protagonist who is not a police officer or an investigator, but while everyone else draws conclusions according to what suits them, she is the only one who wants to find out the truth". The film title quotes the eponymous book by French philosopher Bruno Latour.
Plot.
The film is set in 1937. A married couple, a pregnant former medical student and a factory director, arrive in the town of Svit in the Spiš Region of Slovakia. Together with other Bata employees, they are to build a new town modeled on Zlín. However, the plan is thwarted by a mysterious discovery on the factory premises. Helena Hauptová, the former medical student, is the only person who is interested in uncovering the truth, while the others come to terms with the story of suspected sabotage by Communist elements in the factory.
Among other things, the film focuses on the themes of intersexuality, especially the topic of hermaphroditism, relatively unexplored at the time. The film also deals more generally with the topic of otherness and exclusion, as Helena Hauptová finds herself as a woman in a purely male and male-dominated environment.
Production.
Filming began in May 2022 in Lysá nad Labem in the period scenery of the Art Deco Benies villa. Filming ended in September 2022, the film was initially set to enter theatres on November 16, 2023. It premiered on 1 July 2023 during Karlovy Vary International Film Festival with theatrical premiere on 5 October 2023.
References.
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