Moi, Olga

Dans la première moitié, qui se concentre sur la dépression constante et la lesbianité de Hepnarová, je mettrais davantage en évidence les raisons pour lesquelles elle se sentait si opprimée par son environnement. Dans le film, cela n'est pas assez clair et lorsque le spectateur ne connaît pas l'histoire des événements, cela ne devient évident qu'après la tragédie, lors de l'entretien avec l'avocat (Juraj Nvota). Tout le reste est excellent - l'ambiance de l'époque, la vision en noir et blanc, le froid et l'isolement de la narration qui exprime le monde dans la tête de Hepnarová. Et Michalina Olszanska est vraiment remarquable dans le rôle principal ! P.S. : Combien avons-nous dépensé en cigarettes ? Je ne voudrais pas le voir en 4DX ! (11/04/2016)

Génial, superbe, excellent, exceptionnel – des qualificatifs que je pourrais utiliser à foison ! Michalina est exceptionnelle ; elle coiffe allègrement au poteau toutes ses concurrentes, exactement comme l'avait fait Mihulová l’année précédente. Elle joue à la perfection et son personnage recrée la vraie Hepnarová à l’identique – sa démarche, ses mimiques, ses gestes, sa façon de bouger ses yeux… La photographie est un délice, une jouissance artistique ; les longues prises feront le régal de tout cinéphile. Les rôles secondaires sont tout aussi bons avec Melíšková, Pechlát et Šoposká, cette dernière figurant dans une jolie scène sexy. On est en présence d’un véritable chef-d’œuvre et je suis d’accord avec les avis qui disent qu’on peut brandir ce film avec fierté en Europe et dans le monde. Ce n’est pas un spectacle agréable et facile, mais ça vous prend aux tripes. Un grand bravo ! Je suis content que ce film, avec Family Film, se soit distingué hier aux Récompenses de la critique tchèque. (29/01/2017)

Cold-blooded in the current of the Czechoslovak New Wave. The style is great, but it gets bogged down in unclear motivations. The supporting characters are figures you need to know more about, and even Olga herself has to slouch and have a smoke rather than let the viewer really understand whether she's unfortunate, or crazy. The latter I take as part of the filmmaking game, the former unfortunately not. However, the suggestive final five minutes give it a fundamentally positive impression. 4 ½. (23/03/2016)

Olga Hepnarová and the madness of the human mind in the hardest form. Michalina Olszańska played it so convincingly and intensely that I think I will never forget her recitation of Olga’s letters. The creators took an incredibly difficult story and did an excellent job with it. The consciously black and white camera combined with the atmosphere of the seventies perfectly describes the incompetence of the time to solve anything and so Olga keeps relying on herself, her inner self and her thoughts and we, as the audience, have the chance to observe it and think about what’s going on in her head. In the end we, as the audience, are not able to solve it, but I feel that with this kind of personality even a renowned psychiatrist would have his or her hands full. Nevertheless, it was interesting to watch that kind of character for two hours. And in connection with some scenes that I will probably never forget I think that this film couldn’t have been done in a better way. I am really glad that this cooperation between the Czechs and Poles worked well. And now I am curious how long it will take before someone tries to make a film about Milada Horáková or the Mašín brothers… (23/03/2016)

I, Olga Hepnarova, am strong... and photogenic. A terribly unclear film in terms of approach to the main protagonist, but also in terms of acting and screenwriting. The film, which omits and fragments, and also unnecessarily repeats itself and in some places, by skipping details, confuses rather than reinforces the impression of coldness. The combination of a very cinematic and photogenic visual, a slightly theatrical alienated conception of certain scenes and contemporary documentaries is more so choppy than organic. I, Olga Hepnarova works within individual scenes, especially when there is no talk in them and smoke is rising from somewhere. Thanks to Michalina Olszańská's non-mediocre face and strange posture, it has a disturbing sex appeal. I would also like to highlight the free work with the time period, not putting in normalization backdrops on display and the suppression of any "systemic" features. The film notices the characters in a very specific spatial section, and it does not excuse them due to the time period and corruption of the system. It is very suggestive in this regard. Unfortunately, if I am to consider the film as a semantic unit that works with a distanced study of a monster and a procedural report about a mass murderer, I can't help but be embarrassed. Yes, this is the work of people who avoid many annoying Czech conventions and are instructed by a contemporary festival film, but that in and of itself does at all not guarantee coherence and impact. I must take the side of those who say that Hepnarová is a sure bet. Not to the certainty we've been used to here over the years, but that doesn't change anything. In all respects, the seemingly provocative and morally ambivalent film ends carefully. (15/03/2016)