Though it seems on the surface to be another film confronting the #MeToo phenomenon, Ondřej Provazník’s thoughtful and quite superbly nuanced drama takes a radically different approach to the issue. At times, it is certainly a hard watch, notably in the last 15 or so minutes, but Broken Voices is not so much about sexual abuse per se as the modus operandi of the abuser. Indeed, for most of its running time, the villain of the piece — based, visually as well as thematically, on the real-life case of Bohumil Kulínský and his scandalous 30-year tenure as leader of the Children of Prague choir — simply appears to be something of a bully, keeping his more sinister motivations firmly under wraps.
The setting is the early ’90s, and the focus of the film is Karolina (Kateřina Falbrová), a 13-year-old Czech girl who fantasizes about following her big sister Lucie (Maya Kintera) into the local choir. The two girls are highly competitive, which even extends to racing each other home, so when the choirmaster, Mácha Vitek (Juraj Loj), shows an interest in Karolina, the tension only increases. Vitek is a hard taskmaster, famous for his pitiless regime, and he punishes even the slightest infraction. The girls, however, just soak it up, allowing him to undermine them at every turn in the belief that what they’re doing has to be perfect.
And for a while, that theory holds some water; performing Dvořák’s “Moravian Duets”, the choir sounds little short of heavenly. But slowly, it becomes clear that Vitek is not simply interested in Karolina for her soprano. In fact, even the girls become aware of it, teasing Karolina that they are keeping a running tally of all the times that Vitek looks at her. Being the age she is, and dressing in the lumpen, anti-fashion style of every awkward adolescent — very different to the more confident Lucie — Karolina must convince herself that she’s in it for the music, and that Vitek sees her true talent.
The defining moment that the film builds to is a tour of America that Vitek is planning, a big excitement for young girls raised in the last decade or so of the Cold War. The first step is a boot camp in a mountainous ski resort, where Karolina is teased by the other girls and gets so much preferential treatment from Vitek that Lucie, enraged, locks her outside in the snow and nearly kills her in the process. It seems that the dream is over, but, in a rare show of compassion, Vitek offers to take both girls on the trip.
To call it a slow burn would be an understatement; it’s not much of a spoiler to say that Vitek is an enigma throughout, and when he reveals his true colors as a sexual predator, Provazník handles the scene with discretion. Because, although the whole film leads up to this moment, Provazník is more concerned with how we get there, creating a sense of unease worthy of Catherine Breillat or, to a lesser extent, Michael Haneke. In that way, Broken Voices is about the circumstances that allow abuse to happen; Vitek is like a vampire, a cold and distant creature capable of great charm, and Karolina, in all her disarming naivety, is easy prey.
As Vitek, Juraj Loj gives a masterclass in showing without telling, but the film belongs to newcomer Kateřina Falbrová, whose beautifully calibrated performance is similarly rooted in thoughts and feelings. It could also see Broken Voices going all the way through to awards season, following the path beaten by İlker Çatak’s The Teachers’ Lounge in 2023, being a similar, quietly devastating study of a young woman locked into a nightmare world where every seemingly good intention soon goes stomach-churningly sour.
Title: Broken VoicesFestival: Karlovy Vary (Crystal Globe Competition)Director/screenwriter: Ondřej Provazník Cast: Kateřina Falbrová, Juraj Loj, Maya Kintera, Zuzana Šulajová, Marek Cisovský, Ivana Wojtylová, Anna Michalcová, Anežka Novotná, Markéta Kühnová Distributor: Salaud MorissetRunning time: 1 hr 44 mins
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