Marketa Lazarová

Set in thirteenth-century Bohemia, Marketa Lazarová follows two feuding clans of minor nobility. The bandit leader Kozlík and his sons rob travellers, and during one raid they take a young German nobleman hostage, bringing the anger of the king down on the family. Hoping to build an alliance, Mikoláš approaches their neighbour Lazar, but the peaceful Lazar refuses. Mikoláš retaliates by seizing Lazar's daughter Marketa as she is preparing to enter a convent, and she is drawn into the violent world of the Kozlík clan. The film is based on Vladislav Vančura's novel of the same name.

František Vláčil directed and co-wrote the screenplay with František Pavlíček. It was his second feature, made nine years after Clouds of Glass. The large credited cast of forty-two is led by František Velecký as Mikoláš, Magda Vášáryová as Marketa, Ivan Palúch as Adam, Pavla Polášková as Alexandra, Vlastimil Harapes as Kristián and Michal Kožuch as Lazar. The production, mounted by the Barrandov studio, runs 166 minutes.

On IMDb the film holds 7.8 out of 10 from roughly 6,600 votes, and on TMDB it also stands at 7.8, from a much smaller 164 votes, so general audiences rate it consistently well. A film critics' rating of 9.4 out of 10 from thirteen reviews places it noticeably higher with critics than with the wider public.