Karlovy Vary Competition Entry ‘We Have Never Been Modern’ Challenges Conventional Thinking and Storytelling
In Karlovy Vary Film Festival competition entry “We Have Never Been Modern,” Czech director Matej Chlupacek takes on both the dangers of Utopian bubbles and the power of unbending faith in traditional gender concepts.
The story, set in a Slovak company town built by a visionary industrialist, takes place on the eve of World War II, as a murder mystery threatens to upset the idealized community. The factory director’s wife Helena, played by Eliska Krenkova, is an aspiring doctor who is soon to give birth. But her rosy future is suddenly darkened by the discovery of the body of a newborn intersex baby in the factory’s courtyard.
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All these elements might seem like a heavy burden for a young indie filmmaker who eschewed film school and whose last effort at making a feature was a decade ago, “Touchless” – made when he was a 17-year-old debut writer-director.
But Chlupacek has hardly been hiding out working on screenplay drafts while doing odd jobs since then. Already an experienced multi-platform producer, he has been busy with Czech TV and streaming shows for years and is already in negotiations with a major platform for more.
His credits include the Czech version of international cable franchise “In Treatment,” and the 2020 crime thriller “Rats,” among other projects.
So Chlupacek’s bold choices in “We Have Never Been Modern” and his particular take on a historical what-if story are not as surprising as they might seem. The filmmaker clearly knows what he wants to do and how.
And Chlupacek’s approach to creating the world’s appearance is typical of his unconventional work. “We shot on 35 and used miniatures,” he says. The distinctive look of the setting, inspired by real-life Czech footwear manufacturing mogul Tomas Bata and his modernist factory town built in Zlin during the pre-war years, was achieved after extensive testing with in-camera effects, he says.
“We are creating a city that doesn’t exist,” Chlupacek explains. A good part of the magic is handmade but VFX is another essential component, he says, adding, “We have an amazing colorist.” Between that expertise and the work of production designer Henrich Boraros, “We Have Never Been Modern” indeed achieves a look and feel that are remarkable.
With miniatures built on a 1:7 scale, Chlupacek was inspired by the once-common techniques of George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic on “Star Wars” or vintage Czech sci-fi master Karel Zeman. The miniatures were blended into set pieces built to human scale for actors to stand on and touch. The team experimented with 3D rendering and other CGI techniques but, says the director, that method “never translated somehow to what I wanted.”
The filmmakers also did several test screenings, too – a phenomenon not yet common in the Czech Republic – to be sure everything worked visually with audiences, Chlupacek says.
In addition, the project took four years to develop and cost nearly $3.7 million, a figure that’s also well beyond the norm for an independent feature in this territory.
Cinematographer Martin Douba contributed another level to the visuals, says the director, in a process he describes as highly collaborative.
“We intended to do a modern kind of historical film so we went with the approach of handheld camera so it would look like an indie film.”
As for the fraught period that the film takes place in, Chlupacek says he saw a parallel between modern times, in which it’s too easy to shut out danger signs from outside our comfortable homes, and those of Czechoslovakia’s First Republic.
“I think it’s very similar to the days we’re living in now, having these amazing lives, we’re not bothered directly by anything, and it’s really rosy. In 1937 it was the same – they didn’t know something tragic was coming. You’re watching someone who may not exist in the next year. Or they’ll have to change their way of living completely. That was something that really interested me.”
The first sign of cracks in the ideal life come with the discovery of the murdered infant at the factory – and the child’s intersex anatomy signals a path along storylines that are darker still.
“The intersex subject is very strong in the film,” says Chlupacek, “but it also represents something new that comes into the life of people who live according to their strict rules.”
Bucking the rules is something that’s always interested this filmmaker, he says, and a route he plans to continue to explore.
“I always wanted to provoke people,” he admits. “I always wanted to bring something that’s not theirs, and put it on the table and see how they react. And this amazing script by Miro Sifra reflected, I felt for the first time, something that I wanted to do.”
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