Shameless (2008) Nestyda

Director: Jan Hrebejk
Stars: Jirí Machácek, Simona Babcáková, Pavel Liska

Following their collaborations on A Novel for Women and The Holiday Makers, Czech filmmaker Jan Hrebejk and author Michal Viewegh reunite for Shameless, a comic romp based on Viewegh’s bestselling Tales of Marriage and Sex. Oskar is a television weatherman who has fallen out of love with his nasally endowed wife Zuzana. Undergoing a midlife crisis, he begins a series of affairs. Having begged out of the family vacation at a mountain resort, he falsifies the weather forecast – convincing his wife and son to stay sequestered from the ostensible blizzard so he can bed the family nanny, an immature blonde. Fired for his ballsy behavior, he finds work as a driver for drunk bargoers, scooting around the city on his minibike in search of work and women. But as his conquests continue, they prove to be less and less fulfilling. Take the much older singing sensation Nora, who enchants Oskar with the lilting voice that accents much of the Shameless soundtrack, then leaves him when the father of her children dies. Or the hooker who seduces Oskar in a bathtub. And as for Zuzana – she has crafted a far better relationship with a new lover, one who appreciates the size of her nose. While cameos from Czech media celebrities add to the film’s authenticity and humor, its setting in a nameless Eastern European city adds a touch of poignancy: against a nighttime background of historic architecture and twinkling lights, Oskar’s quest for sex as meaning pales.