The Elusive Summer Of '68
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''The Elusive Summer of '68'' (;
Serbian Cyrillic The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet (, ), also known as the Serbian script, (, ), is a standardized variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language. It originated in medieval Serbia and was significantly reformed in the 19th cen ...
: ''Варљиво лето '68'') is a 1984 Yugoslav film directed by
Goran Paskaljević Goran Paskaljević ( sr-cyr, Горан Паскаљевић; ; 22 April 1947 – 25 September 2020) was a Serbian and former Yugoslav film director. Biography Born in Belgrade, he was raised by his grandparents in Niš in southern Serbia, foll ...
. It depicts a summer dominated by protests, as seen from the point of view of a teenage boy in Yugoslavia. Through collaborative work, director Goran Paskaljević and screenwriter
Gordan Mihić Gordan Mihić ( sr-Cyrl, Гордан Михић; 19 September 1938 – 11 August 2019) was a Serbian playwright best known for his work on movie scripts for ''Black Cat, White Cat'', ''Time of the Gypsies'', ''Balkan Express (film), Balkan Expre ...
have created a film that is both a love story and a political comedy set in the summer of 1968. The protagonist, high school graduate Petar, spends his summer in an idyllic and patriarchal province where the echoes of tumultuous global and domestic political events reach. His world is populated by women who are the objects of his youthful desires—married ladies, shy peers, provocative professors, and others. Parallel to the film, a television series with the same name was also produced, which was broadcast in the same year on
Radio Television Belgrade The Serbian Broadcasting Corporation, more commonly referred to as Radio Television of Serbia (), or RTS (), is the state-owned public radio and television broadcaster of Serbia. RTS has four organizational units – radio, television, music pro ...
. The Yugoslav Film Archive included the film among the one hundred Serbian feature films that were declared of great
cultural significance Cultural heritage is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all heritages of past generations are "heritage"; rather, heritage is a product of selection by socie ...
on December 28, 2016.


Plot

During the summer of 1968, in the middle of various political changes in Yugoslavia, most notably student demonstrations, high school graduate Petar Cvetković searches for the love of his life by falling in love alternately and simultaneously with multiple women, mostly mature and married ones: a pharmacist, a baker, a librarian, both daughters of the president of the court, and his sociology professor, for whom he chooses a topic related to
Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...
for his graduation thesis. The need to finally find the woman of his life leads Petar into a series of humorous situations, bewildering his father, a municipal judge with dogmatic beliefs who believes that youth should be raised with a "firm hand" and who suffers due to his
bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...
background. When Petar finally finds true love, a young
Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...
girl, their romance is suddenly interrupted by the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia which forces her to return home.


Cast

* Slavko Štimac as Petar Cvetković *
Danilo Stojković Danilo Stojković ( sr-cyr, Данило Стојковић; 11 August 1934 – 16 March 2002), commonly nicknamed Bata (Бата), was a Yugoslav and Serbian theatre, television and film actor. Stojković's numerous comedic portrayals of stat ...
as Veselin Cvetković *
Mira Banjac Mira Banjac ( sr-Cyrl, Мира Бањац; born 4 November 1929) is a Serbian actress. She won a number of awards, including an award for her work in ''Mamaroš'' from Brazil and Golden Medal for Merits of Republic of Serbia. Personal life B ...
as Petar's mother * Mija Aleksić as Petar's grandfather * Ivana Mihić as Vladica Cvetković *Andrija Mrkaić as Tadija Cvetković *
Sanja Vejnović Sanja Vejnović (born 8 August 1961) is a Croatian film and television actress. Career Vejnović started her film career in 1978, with Branko Ivanda film ''Court Martial''. She came under international spotlight in Vatroslav Mimica's 1981 epic ...
as Ruženjka Hrabalova * Dragana Varagić as Jagodinka Simonović *
Neda Arnerić Neda Arnerić ( sr-cyr, Неда Арнерић; 15 July 1953 – 10 January 2020) was a Serbian film, stage and television actress, and politician. A graduate art historian, she was considered a sex symbol of Yugoslav cinematography. Personal ...
as Olja Miranovski * Miodrag Radovanović as President of the court Micić * Branka Petrić as Leposava * Dragan Zarić as School Principal * Predrag Tasovac as Man on the beach * Branko Cvejić as Kum Spasoje


Background

The original screenplay by Gordan Mihić, titled "Samо јednоm se živi" (You Only Live Once), presented a story about the relationship between a grandfather, father, and son set in contemporary times (early 1980s) and was intended for director
Živojin Pavlović Živojin "Žika" Pavlović (15 April 1933 – 29 November 1998) was a Yugoslav and Serbian film director, writer, painter and professor. In his films and novels, Pavlović depicted the cruel reality of small, poor and abandoned people living ...
. After a prolonged period of being held by Centar Film, the screenplay was offered to Goran Paskaljević, who decided to shift the film's setting to the "turbulent and pivotal" year of 1968. Wanting to create a film that would contain his personal signature, he introduced certain details into the screenplay, such as a young Czech girl, graduation thesis on Marxism, and others. Additionally, Paskaljević felt the need to address the events of 1968— protests in Paris, student demonstrations in Belgrade, the Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia—since his generation believed at the time that this year was pivotal, that something would change, and the world would become a better place. As he didn't have the desire to make a film about student demonstrations, he decided to create a sentimental comedy with political content and depict how tumultuous political events impact the lives of ordinary people. The decision to shift the film's setting from the early 1980s to 1968 was personal for Paskaljević. In that year, he was a twenty-one-year-old student in his first year of film directing at the Faculty of Film and Television (FAMU) in
Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
. He witnessed Dubček's reforms during the
Prague Spring The Prague Spring (; ) was a period of liberalization, political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected Secretary (title), First Secre ...
and the attempt to create "socialism with a human face." In June 1968, when he was at the end of his first year, he received news of student demonstrations in
Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...
, but he returned to
Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
only after everything was over. During his stay in Prague, he met a Czech girl named Mirka, with whom he fell in love. Together with him, she came to Yugoslavia during the holidays, and they spent a month on the
Adriatic coast The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to ...
. In August, Mirka returned to Prague, and on the day before the Soviet intervention, August 20, 1968, she left Czechoslovakia with her family for
Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
. Her father, who held a higher position, was informed about what would happen and managed to obtain visas for himself, his wife, and daughters. When Paskaljević returned to Prague for his studies at the end of August, he couldn't find her, and he lost all contact with her (he only met Mirka again years later in America, where she owned a fashion boutique in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
). His personal love story served as a motive for introducing the character of Ruženka Hrabalova, a Czech holidaymaker, with whom the main character falls in love. As a young film student, Paskaljević was particularly influenced by Czech director
Jiří Menzel Jiří Menzel () (23 February 1938 – 5 September 2020) was a Czech film director, theatre director, actor, and screenwriter. His films often combine a humanistic view of the world with sarcasm and provocative cinematography. Some of these films ...
, whom he met through mutual friends. As a lover of Czech films from the 1960s, which were stylized charming comedies, he decided that this film should pay homage to this period of Czech cinema. Since the original title of the screenplay, ''Samо јednоm se živi'', had to be changed due to its similarity to the title of
Rajko Grlić Rajko Grlić (born 2 September 1947) is a Croatian film director, producer and screenwriter. He is a professor of film theory at Ohio University and artistic director of the Motovun Film Festival in Motovun, Croatia. Biography Rajko Grlić w ...
's film ''Samо јednоm se ljubi'' (You Love Only Once) Paskaljević decided to paraphrase the title of Menzel's film ''Rozmarné léto'', made in 1968, and gave the film the title "Varljivo leto" (Deceptive Summer, or Elusive Summer). With the help of Ružica Petrović, the producer at Avala Film, the film ultimately received the title "Varljivo leto '68" (The Elusive Summer of '68).


Production

Despite the fact that Paskaljević had five successful feature films to his name, produced by Centar Film, this production house did not provide enough funds for the realization of the film, even though the shooting plan was already prepared. Offended because the production house did not believe in his film and was unwilling to accept the financial risk, despite his previous film ''Suton'' (Twilight Time) having brought in half a million dollars in profit, Paskaljević had almost given up on making the film. In August 1983, while returning by plane from
Pula Pula, also known as Pola, is the largest city in Istria County, west Croatia, and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, seventh-largest city in the country, situated at the southern tip of the Istria, Istrian peninsula in western Croatia, wi ...
, he accidentally met Milan Vukos, the director of Radio Television Belgrade, and told him about the problem with Centar Film and the lack of funds for the film's realization. Since Vukos was interested in the story, he told him to bring the screenplay, and he would see how he could help. A few days after receiving the screenplay, Vukos called Paskaljević and offered to have Radio Television Belgrade provide additional funding for the film's realization, on the condition that a three-episode television series be simultaneously produced. He accepted this proposal and, along with Mihić, expanded the screenplay. This was the third film project of the Paskaljević-Mihić duo, following the successful films ''Čuvar plaže u zimskom periodu'' (Beach Guard in Winter) in 1976 and ''Pas koji je voleo vozove'' (The Dog Who Loved Trains) in 1977. Although the film's story is set from May to August, the filming of the movie was delayed and took place at the end of September and the beginning of October in 1983 due to production delays. Because of the good weather, the film was shot in just about twenty days. The famous beach scene was filmed on October 5 on the
Danube River The Danube ( ; see also other names) is the second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest south into the Black Sea. A large and historically important riv ...
near the village of
Čortanovci Čortanovci () is a village located in the Inđija municipality, Srem District, Vojvodina province, Serbia. It As of 2011 census results, the village has a population of 2,337 inhabitants. Because of its pleasant climate and neighboring Danube, ...
in the
Syrmia Syrmia (Ekavian sh-Latn-Cyrl, Srem, Срем, separator=" / " or Ijekavian sh-Latn-Cyrl, Srijem, Сријем, label=none, separator=" / ") is a region of the southern Pannonian Plain, which lies between the Danube and Sava rivers. It is div ...
region, on the slopes of the
Fruška Gora Fruška gora ( sr-Cyrl, Фрушка гора) is a mountain in Syrmia, with most of the mountain being part of Serbia and its westernmost edge extending into eastern Croatia. The Serbian part of the mountain forms the country's oldest National p ...
mountain. Fearing that there would be no more sunny days resembling summer, all beach scenes were shot in a single day. To capture the atmosphere of a small provincial town, much of the film was shot in
Sremski Karlovci Sremski Karlovci ( sr-Cyrl, Сремски Карловци, ) is a town and municipality located in the South Bačka Districtautonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is situated on the banks of the Danube, from Novi Sad. According to the 202 ...
( Karlovci Gymnasium, the railway station, and others), while some scenes were done in
Zemun Zemun ( sr-cyrl, Земун, ; ) is a Subdivisions of Belgrade, municipality in the city of Belgrade, Serbia. Zemun was a separate town that was absorbed into Belgrade in 1934. It lies on the right bank of the Danube river, upstream from downtown ...
. Nevertheless, a significant part of the film was shot in the center of Belgrade, as the house of the fictional Cvetković film family was actually the house of the scientist
Jovan Cvijić Jovan Cvijić ( sr-Cyrl, Јован Цвијић, ; 1865 – 16 January 1927) was a Serbs, Serbian geographer, Ethnology, ethnologist, university professor and academic. He was the president of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, S ...
, which houses his memorial museum. This house is located on Jelena Ćetković Street, in Kopitareva Gradina, the same location where other projects like the film '' Nešto između'' and TV series ''
Bolji život ''Bolji život'' (Serbian Cyrillic: Бољи живот, English: ''A Better Life'') is a Yugoslav TV series with mixed elements of soap opera, comedy and drama that aired from 1987 to 1991. Created by the Radiotelevision Belgrade (RTB) it is co ...
'' and '' Ulica lipa'' were also filmed. The beach in Čortanovci gained particular popularity, and the area where the film was shot is now known as "Varljivo Leto Beach."


Selection of the lead actors

When choosing the actors to portray the main characters in the film, Paskaljević immediately decided to cast Danilo "Bata" Stojković and
Mira Banjac Mira Banjac ( sr-Cyrl, Мира Бањац; born 4 November 1929) is a Serbian actress. She won a number of awards, including an award for her work in ''Mamaroš'' from Brazil and Golden Medal for Merits of Republic of Serbia. Personal life B ...
as Petar's parents, as he had collaborated with them in his first feature film, ''Čuvar plaže u zimskom periodu'' (Beach Guard in Winter), where they played Milovan and Spasenija Pašanović, the parents of the main character. This highly successful duo also appeared the following year in Boža Nikolić's film ''Balkanski špijun'' (Balkan Spy). There was no hesitation in selecting Mija Aleksić for the role of Petar's grandfather. Paskaljević hesitated when it came to choosing the lead actor, as both he and Slavko Štimac were concerned about whether the then twenty-three-year-old actor could convincingly portray the character of high school graduate Petar Cvetković. However, believing in his authenticity, Paskaljević made the decision to entrust him with this role. When it came to selecting the actress for the role of Petar's sister Vladica, the director was not satisfied with the proposed candidates. He decided to offer this role to the thirteen-year-old Ivana Mihić, the daughter of the screenwriter Gordan Mihić. As Paskaljević suspected, Mihić initially resisted this idea, but he was supported in this endeavor by Mihić's wife, Vera Čukić, and their daughter accepted the role, treating it as a kind of game. The role of the youngest member of the Cvetković family, little Tadija, was played by five-year-old Andrija Mrkaić, who was selected through auditions.


Reception and critiques

The film premiered on the last day of January 1984 at the "Balkan" cinema in Belgrade. From the very start, the film faced obstacles, and the premiere was not held at the then-prestigious cinemas "Jadran" and "Kozara." Most of the domestic film critics belittled the film, and it was not even included in the supporting program of the Yugoslav Film Festival in
Pula Pula, also known as Pola, is the largest city in Istria County, west Croatia, and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, seventh-largest city in the country, situated at the southern tip of the Istria, Istrian peninsula in western Croatia, wi ...
, where films were screened out of competition. The explanation given by the jury at the time was that the film did not communicate well enough with the audience. According to Paskaljević's opinion, the film faced challenges due to jealousy from his colleagues, given the success of his previous films. However, he received support from the film crew and the ensemble cast, who accompanied him to premieres of the film in various cities. Despite weak advertising and poor reviews, the film was well received by audiences, which recognized the film's energy. The cinema hall at "Balkan" was full in all showtimes for several months, and the film was seen by over 160,000 viewers in Belgrade alone. The Yugoslav Film Archive, in collaboration with Vip mobile and the film's producer, Centar film, digitally restored this classic. The premiere took place on August 23, 2018, at the closing of the first International Danube Film Festival in
Smederevo Smederevo ( sr-Cyrl, Смедерево, ) is a list of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Podunavlje District in eastern Serbia. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube, about downstream of the Serbian capital, ...
.


Awards

* Bastia Italian Film Festival (1984) — Grand Prix of the Jury


Legacy

The Yugoslav Film Archive, in accordance with its authority under the Cultural Heritage Law, declared one hundred Serbian feature films (1911-1999) as
cultural heritage Cultural heritage is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all heritages of past generations are "heritage"; rather, heritage is a product of selection by socie ...
of great importance on December 28, 2016. ''The Elusive Summer of '68'' is included in this list.


References


External links

* Films set in Yugoslavia {{DEFAULTSORT:Elusive Summer of '68, The 1984 films Yugoslav drama films Serbian drama films Films directed by Goran Paskaljević 1980s Serbian-language films Films set in 1968 Films set in Serbia Films shot in Serbia Films scored by Zoran Hristić