Intimate Lighting cover art

Intimate Lighting Details

1969 Certificate 12
  • Rated:
  • 60
  • from 235 members

This comedy of provincial life was one of the key works of the Czech New Wave. It concerns the visit of Peter, a successful symphony musician, and his girlfriend to Bambas, an old friend who is now the director of a small town music school. There is a family dinner, some amateur chamber music, a funeral, a wake and a late night .. Read more

Starring Zdenek Bezusek, Karel Blazek, Miroslav Cvrk
Director Ivan Passer
Genres Drama

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Intimate Lighting

This comedy of provincial life was one of the key works of the Czech New Wave. It concerns the visit of Peter, a successful symphony musician, and his girlfriend to Bambas, an old friend who is now the director of a small town music school. There is a family dinner, some amateur chamber music, a funeral, a wake and a late night drinking session. The visit allows the friends to reflect on themselves and how their lives have turned out. Intimate Lighting is a quietly funny film that in its own gentle way has a lot to say about our lives and what we do to get by. Without bitterness or angst and without condescension or sentimentality, Passer, in his debut as director, judges the film perfectly with a lightness of touch and a mature understanding of his characters. Intimate Lighting was also one of the first features shot by the renowned cinematographer Miroslav Ondricek; and the only feature film that Passer completed in the Czech Republic before the Russian invasion of 1968 forced him into exile in the United States, where he continued to make films including the classic "Cutter's Way" (1981).

Starring Zdenek Bezusek, Karel Blazek, Miroslav Cvrk
Director Ivan Passer
Studio SECONDRUN
Run time DVD: 1 hr 12 mins
Certificate Certificate 12
Genres Drama
Language DVD: Czech
Hearing-impaired English
Subtitles DVD: English
Released DVD: 01 Oct 2009
Production year: 1969
Format DVD
  • Critics' reviews of Intimate Lighting

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  • The last Czech film by Milos Forman's co-writer Ivan Passer is a moving, sympathetically directed study of belonging,... read more on Time Out

    • Time Out
  • Most helpful member's review of Intimate Lighting

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  • 3 out of 3 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 2 stars

    a gently humourous look at life in 60s Czechslovakia

    Nothing much happens in this film - a musician and his girlfriend from the city go to visit an old friend in the country. They play music, go to a funeral and get drunk. But it makes for an agreeable 70 minutes if you're not looking for action. There's bickering between father and son, bored and ignored girlfriend looking for some kind of action and an affectionate but not sentimental look at 'crowded' family life. It's more a two and a half stars.

    Not one for you if you can't handle sub-titles, black and white, slowness or classical music.

      • Tuttle from Newdigate
  • Most recent members' review of Intimate Lighting

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  • 3 out of 3 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 2 stars

    a gently humourous look at life in 60s Czechslovakia

    Nothing much happens in this film - a musician and his girlfriend from the city go to visit an old friend in the country. They play music, go to a funeral and get drunk. But it makes for an agreeable 70 minutes if you're not looking for action. There's bickering between father and son, bored and ignored girlfriend looking for some kind of action and an affectionate but not sentimental look at 'crowded' family life. It's more a two and a half stars.

    Not one for you if you can't handle sub-titles, black and white, slowness or classical music.

      • Tuttle from Newdigate
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Rating breakdown

235 Member ratings
  • 100
22
  • 90
12
  • 80
43
  • 70
41
  • 60
46
  • 50
23
  • 40
14
  • 30
10
  • 20
17
  • 10
7

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    • This comedy of provincial life was one of the key works of the Czech New Wave. It concerns the visit of Peter, a successful symphony musician, and his girlfriend to Bambas, an old friend who is now ...