A coming-of-age narrative exploring teenage rebellion, political tension, and familial reconciliation in 1980s socialist Czechoslovakia.
The story of fifteen-year-old Renata, who lives in a small apartment with her divorced parents, takes place during the socialist era of the 1980s. Not only does she have her own problems appropriate for her age, but she is also disgusted by her parents' constant arguments, who willingly involve her in all their intimate matters. She takes revenge on them by getting into more and more trouble. She gets drunk, listens to Radio Free Europe, and rebels somewhat clumsily against the political situation. But when things get really bad, she allows herself to be rescued by her father, a member of the secret police, with a mixture of admiration and contempt. Weaned on this confused world of adults, she clumsily stands on her own two feet. Only when she falls in love with a boy she doesn't want at a dance and loses her virginity to a boy she doesn't really know, only after various emotional escapades, does she find a certain indulgence for her eternally quarreling parents...
Andrea Sedláčková
Rating: 7/10 (1 votes)