Údolí včel (The Valley of the Bees | František Vláčil | 1968)

Údolí včel (František Vláčil, 1967)

Údolí včel (Valley of the Bees | František Vláčil | 1967)

Nunta de piatra (The Stone Wedding |  Mircea Veroiu & Dan Pița | 1973)

So...watching all those people here on Tumblr sharing their art,I didn’t want to be just a passive consumer anymore,I wanted to contribute something. I thought I too would share some of my work here ,and maybe some people will find it pleasing and inspiring,like I am often pleased and inspired.

This drawing I did last spring at my art workshop. It is a still from my beloved Czech film “Udoli Vcel” (Valley of the Bees). I was inspired by the film’s desperate spirituality and bergmanesque existential angst,and I wanted to draw a picture that encapsulated exactly that. It ever so slightly changed my interpretation of the image!

Original here

Art by me:)   Charcoal and pencil.

Údolí včel (1967), dir. František Vláčil

Go, Ondřej! Take my cloak. Go back, Ondřej. You’ll be forgiven. Pray. Pray for both of us.  - Údolí včel, dir. František Vláčil

The Valley of the Bees - Frantisek Vlacil - 1967

Movie-log

Údolí vcel / The valley of the bees

Frantisek Vlácil -- 1968 | Czechoslovakia | 8

Údolí včel (The Valley of the Bees | František Vláčil | 1968)

Údolí včel (The Valley of the Bees | František Vláčil | 1968)

Údolí včel (The Valley of the Bees | František Vláčil | 1968)

Údolí včel (František Vláčil, 1967)

Údolí včel (1967), dir. František Vláčil

Údolí včel (Valley of the bees) - František Vláčil

1968

Ondrej,the young son of the lord of Vlkov in medieval Bohemia,on the day of his father’s wedding plays a cruel prank on his young stepmother. His father almost kills him in rage,but immediately afterwards promises him to the Virgin in exchange for his recovery. He grows up a knight Teuton, in a castle by the Baltic coast,under the wing of stern Armin,who is fanatically devoted to both Ondrej and God. Doubting that this life he has not chosen is for him,Ondrej cracks when another knight meets a grim end for failing to escape the Order.He runs away and returns to the wordly life of Vlkov,but Armin follows him, determined to do everything to bring him back.

Valley of the Bees is a wonderful film by Czech director Frantisek Vlacil. Less epic in scale and scope than his previous masterpiece “Marketa Lazarova”,it nevertheless presents an unrelenting and harsh,yet also poetic and comprehensible portrait both of the way of life in the Middle Ages and of the psyche and worldview of the people who inhabited this world in the roles of knight,lady,priest, rogue,sinner,apostate. Beautiful cinematography, black and white landscapes out of a woodcut, excellent acting and visionary direction illustrate a tragedy of timeless strifes and passions.