Beauty in Trouble

Some of the best movie experiences in theaters now are actually foreign films that have taken a few years to travel to our shores. Case in point from earlier in the year, the Swedish film from 2004 As It Is In Heaven enjoyed a healthy run for a couple of months, an eternity for a foreign film. This Friday the Angelika will open Beauty in Trouble (Kráska v nesnázích) a Czech film by helmer Jan Hrebejk from 2006.
Another thing about Beauty in Trouble are some songs by Glen Hansard that also appeared in Once (one of them won an Oscar for Best Song). Since Beauty in Trouble and Once were released in the same year it takes on new meaning because the film's not just recycling a previous song but using it like it was just discovered for the first time. Beauty also contains music from popular Czech singer Raduza in addition to original scored music by Ales Brezina.
Beauty in Trouble takes its story from a poem of the same name by Robert Graves. Marcela (Anna Geislerová) a woman at crossroads in her life must chose between here husband (who's become boorish) and an older wealthy man who offers her the chance to raise her children in luxury. All of the characters, which include Marcela's children and her in-laws with whom she must move in after her husband get a short prison sentence for buying a stolen car, are vividly etched with references to their economic and social status. The most interesting character, an elder who begrudgingly takes in Marcela when her husband can't support her, is also the worst in terms of moral turpitude. His perverseness is balanced by the other older character who himself becomes infatuated with Marcela.
Beauty in Trouble chooses to dryly observe its dysfunctional family politics as opposed to judging them. In many ways Marcela's choices mirror the same kinds of double edged wants and desires all adults face.