''I, Olga Hepnarová'' ( cs, Já, Olga Hepnarová) is a 2016 internationally co-produced

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

, directed by

Tomáš Weinreb Tomáš () is a Czech and Slovak given name, equivalent to the name Thomas. It may refer to: * Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1850–1937), first President of Czechoslovakia * Tomáš Baťa (1876–1932), Czech footwear entrepreneur * Tomáš Berdych ( ...

and

Petr Kazda Petr is a Czech language, Czech given name for males and a Czech surname. Petr is the Czech form of ''Peter''. For information on Petr as a first name, see Peter (given name). Given name * Petr Aven (born 1955), Russian billionaire banker, econo ...

, about Olga Hepnarová (1951–1975). She was a Czechoslovakian mass murderer, who on 10 July 1973, killed eight people with a truck in Prague. The film was shown in the Panorama section at the

66th Berlin International Film Festival The 66th Berlin International Film Festival was held from 11 to 21 February 2016, with American actress Meryl Streep as the President of the Jury. The Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement was presented to German cinematographer Michael ...

Cast

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 78% based on 27 reviews, and an average rating of 6.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "As stark and riveting as its cinematography, 'I, Olga Hepnarová' takes a sober, haunting look at the life leading up to a woman's horrific real-life crime." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 57 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Glenn Kenny Glenn Kenny (born August 8, 1959) is an American film critic and journalist. He writes for ''The New York Times'' and '' RogerEbert.com''. Biography Kenny attended William Paterson University, where he majored in English literature.The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, "Anchored by a startling performance by Michalina Olszanska, the Czech film ‘I, Olga Hepnarova’ is an austere, hypnotic story of sadness, madness and murder." He ends his review, "Early in the movie, Ms. Olszanska, a slight, narrow-shouldered woman, plays Olga as someone trying to recede into herself, slumping and looking to the ground as she puffs on a cigarette. By the time of her trial, at which she pleads guilty and demands the death penalty, she is stiff, straight, defiant. Modern civilizations are haunted by crimes like this; ‘I, Olga Hepnarova’ persuasively suggests that the only understanding we can have of them is a terrifying one." Writing for ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'', Tanner Tafelski said "I, Olga Hepnarová is a bitter pill to swallow, focusing on the paradoxes of a misanthrope".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:I, Olga Hepnarova 2016 films 2016 drama films 2016 directorial debut films Czech drama films 2010s Czech-language films Czech LGBT-related films Czech black-and-white films Czech Lion Awards winners (films) Golden Kingfisher winners Czech Film Critics' Awards winners Films about mass murder Czech films based on actual events