Wikipedia

Charlatan (2020 film)

Charlatan (Czech: Šarlatán) is a 2020 biographical historical drama film directed by Agnieszka Holland and written by Marek Epstein, loosely based on the healer Jan Mikolášek (1889–1973), who cured hundreds of people using plant-based remedies.[4] It was selected as the Czech entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards making the February shortlist.[5][6][7][8] It won five awards including Best Film at the 2021 Czech Lion Awards.[9]

Charlatan
Official poster
Directed byAgnieszka Holland
Written byMarek Epstein
Produced bySarka Cimbalova
StarringIvan Trojan
Josef Trojan
Juraj Loj
Jaroslava Pokorná
CinematographyMartin Strba
Music byAntoni Komasa-Łazarkiewicz
Production
company
Marlene Film Production
Distributed byCinemart
Release date
Running time
118 minutes
CountriesCzech Republic
Ireland
Slovakia
Poland
LanguageCzech
Budget58.9 Million CZK[2]
Box office38.2 Million CZK[3]

Plot

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The life of Jan Mikolášek [cs], a well-known and successful Czech healer, who diagnosed and healed people using his intuition and his familiarity with plants. Despite being mostly plant-based, his remedies and prescriptions included lifestyle and dietary changes. He healed not only poor people from the villages but also many well-known people, including the Czechoslovak President, Antonín Zápotocký. Mikolášek's diagnostic methods and notorious healing got the attention of Czechoslovakia's government. He was finally arrested after strychnine was found in the bodies of two men he had treated.[10]

In real life, Jan Mikolášek was tried and convicted in 1959 of tax and other offenses, but not for murder by strychnine poisoning, was released in 1963, and died in 1973.[11]

Cast

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Production

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The film was a Czech-Irish-Polish-Slovak co-production. The venture included Marlene Film Production (Czech Republic), Kevan Van Thompson, Mike Downey (Chairman of European Film Academy) and Sam Taylor – both from Film & Music Entertainment Ltd (Ireland), Madants (Poland) and Furia Film (Slovakia). Others involved were Czech Television, Barrandov Studio, Studio Metrage, Moderator Inwestycje, Radio and Television of Slovakia, CertiCon, Vladimír a Taťána Maříkovi, and Magic Lab.

Shooting started on 1 April 2019 at Mladá Boleslav Prison.[12][13] Principal photography took 36 Days.[14] Shooting concluded in July 2019.[15] The film entered postproduction on 4 July 2019.[16]

Release

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The film premiered at Berlin International Film Festival on 27 February 2020. It was set to enter distribution for Czech cinemas on 26 March 2020.[17] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, distribution was delayed to 20 August 2020.[18][19] The film was viewed by 59,073 people during its first weekend in Czech Theatres.[20] Despite strong competition, the film had strong attendance during its second weekend with 37,000 people, only narrowly beaten only by Tenet.[21]

Reception

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The film has received generally positive reviews from Czech critics holding 74% at Kinobox.cz based on 12 reviews.[22] The film was also positively received by foreign reviews.[23] Charlatan has an approval rating of 89% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 35 reviews, and an average rating of 6.8/10. The critics consensus says: "Charlatan's slightly dry approach is offset by unique filmmaking flourishes and a fascinating story that make this an engaging, albeit unusual, biopic."[24] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 66 out of 100, based on seven critics, indicating generally favourable reviews.[25]

"Charlatan is a film that does not quite satisfy the curiosity it arouses", states Peter Bradshaw in his review for The Guardian from the Berlinale. "Was Mikolášek a 'charlatan'? Rightly or wrongly, the movie is vehement that he was not. The drama in no way resides in any lingering ambiguity. This Mikolášek is a man of principle and intuitive genius who presides over a flourishing practice. (...) He is played with fiercely controlled stoicism by the veteran Czech actor Ivan Trojan, whose son Josef plays the young Mikolášek. (...) This is a forceful, capable movie with an interesting story to tell but its potency consists in a handful of gripping episodes, the most startling being when the young Mikolášek has developed a love of herbs and a vocation for healing."[26]

Accolades

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On 3 August 2020, Charlatan was chosen to be part of Telluride Film Festival 2020 lineup.[27] It was also recommended for a nomination for the 33rd European Film Awards by European Film Academy.[28]

It was nominated for 14 Czech Lion Awards, including the Best film.[29] Ivan Trojan won Czech Film Critics' Award for Best Actor and Agnieszka Holland for Best Director.[30]

On 6 March 2021, Charlatan won five Czech Lion Awards including Best Picture, Best Director (Agnieszka Holland), and Best Lead Actor (Ivan Trojan).[9]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Barraclough, Leo (3 July 2019). "Agnieszka Holland's 'Charlatan' Wraps, Sets Premiere Date (Exclusive)". Variety. Archived from the original on 4 July 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  2. ^ "Film Agnieszky Hollandové o léčiteli Mikoláškovi bude mít premiéru na Berlinale". Aktuálně.cz (in Czech). Economia. 14 January 2020. Archived from the original on 19 August 2020. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  3. ^ "Šarlatán - Tržby a návštěvnost". Kinomaniak (in Czech). Archived from the original on 18 October 2020. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  4. ^ "Hollandová obrací pozornost k Česku. S Trojanem natočí film o léčiteli Mikoláškovi". Aktuálně.cz (in Czech). 18 February 2019. Archived from the original on 4 June 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  5. ^ "Česko vyšle na Oscary Šarlatána". Novinky.cz (in Czech). Archived from the original on 18 October 2020. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
  6. ^ ""Charlatan" Selected for Oscars' Best International Feature Film". Prague Morning. 13 October 2020. Archived from the original on 18 October 2020. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
  7. ^ "Šarlatán má šanci na Oscara, je v užším výběru patnácti filmů". Novinky.cz (in Czech). Archived from the original on 10 February 2021. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  8. ^ "Czech movie Charlatan shortlisted for 2021 Academy Award". The Prague Reporter. 10 February 2021. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  9. ^ a b "Charlatan named Best Film, Agnieszka Holland Best Director at Czech Lion awards". The Prague Reporter. 7 March 2021. Archived from the original on 21 February 2022. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  10. ^ "Šarlatán Je Film O Muži, Který Nezapadal Do Předepsaných Vzorců". magazinelita.cz. Archived from the original on 14 January 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  11. ^ "Mikolášek, Jan - známý bylinář (stručně)". MS Genealogie (in Czech). Archived from the original on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  12. ^ "Agnieszka Hollandová není žádný šarlatán. Začala natáčet chystaný film o českém léčiteli". ČT24 (in Czech). Czech Television. Archived from the original on 10 April 2020. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  13. ^ "Hollandová točí s Trojanem Šarlatána". Novinky.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  14. ^ "V Hollywoodu platí, že čím dražší film, tím méně svobody. Režisérka s třemi nominacemi na Oscara teď dotočila. S Ivanem Trojanem. Sobota Pavla Přeučila". krajskelisty.cz. Archived from the original on 13 July 2019. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  15. ^ "Ivan Trojan dotočil šarlatána, kdy bojoval s vlastními démony". Kinobox.cz (in Czech). Archived from the original on 1 September 2020. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  16. ^ "Ivan Trojan o Šarlatánovi: Je dobře, že jsme s Josefem z jednoho vejce". Novinky.cz (in Czech). Archived from the original on 25 September 2020. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  17. ^ "Šarlatán má světovou premiéru na 70. Berlinale". Czech Television. Archived from the original on 16 January 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  18. ^ "Přehledně: Premiéra Šarlatána a 3Bobule se odkládá, festival Jeden svět by mohl pokračovat na podzim". Czech Radio (in Czech). Archived from the original on 11 March 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  19. ^ "Film Šarlatán má nový termín premiéry – 20. 8. 2020". spycross.cz. Archived from the original on 28 July 2020. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  20. ^ "Žebříček: Šarlatán probudil česká kina z koronavirového kómatu". Novinky.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  21. ^ "Tenet konečně dorazil, ale masivní očekávaní nesplnil". Kinomaniak (in Czech). Archived from the original on 30 October 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  22. ^ "Šarlatán". Kinobox.cz (in Czech). Archived from the original on 1 September 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  23. ^ "Anne Chatham in". The First News. 5 July 2019. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
  24. ^ "Charlatan (2020)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Archived from the original on 5 November 2021.
  25. ^ https://www.metacritic.com/movie/charlatan?ftag=MCD-06-10aaa1c [bare URL]
  26. ^ Bradshaw, Peter. "Charlatan review – a fascinating, frustrating tale of bottled-up emotion". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 27 February 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  27. ^ Lattanzio, Ryan (3 August 2020). "Telluride Film Festival Reveals 2020 Selections: 'Ammonite,' 'Nomadland,' Werner Herzog, and More". IndieWire. Archived from the original on 16 December 2020. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  28. ^ "Šarlatán a Nabarvené ptáče usilují o Evropské filmové ceny". Novinky.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  29. ^ "Nominace na 28. Českého lva". Filmová Akademie (in Czech). 18 January 2021. Archived from the original on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  30. ^ "Ceny české filmové kritiky vyhrála Krajina ve stínu". MediaGuru.cz (in Czech). Archived from the original on 7 February 2021. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
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